A Wolf And A Half
by Crushing Velvet
Summary: AU.Alice/Bella."There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Twilight or anything familiar you read, which you will, because I've borrowed some stuff from a couple shows/movies. Can't spoil it for you by saying exactly what or who, but it belongs to their rightful owners. That works, right?_

**Rated:** _T, for now at least._

**Author: **_Crushing Velvet._

**Beta:**_ xPaige Turnerx. Whom I'm borrowing Eve from._

**Summary:**_ Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Isabella Swan. Seattle, Washington. _

"You certainly go for the doom and gloom, don't you?"

Eve and Bella stood outside the mansion but inside the tall, black iron gates that surrounded the yard. She did have a point, the property certainly wasn't… child friendly. Actually, as Bella knew it, the local children told horror stories and legends about this place. The "creepy old gates" were meant to cage kids who had accidentally wandered in, so that the ghoul living in the attic could eat them. Or the gargoyle statues on either side of the grand cement stairs leading to the front doors, would come alive at night and snatch people off the streets. She, however, saw a beautiful old Victorian styled mansion, the red, black, and grey taking her back to a lost time. They didn't build houses like they used to, nothing sturdy or strong anymore. Nothing that could endure like this mansion had.

Besides, the secluded property just on the very outskirts of the city, right by the woods, spelled safety. No worry of prying eyes, or fear of people hearing the activities that would take place inside. The last mansion had _far_ too many close neighbours.

"No one can appreciate sentimental reasoning anymore, can they?" Isobelle sighed dramatically, her voice thick with her Italian accent, drooping her arm around Bella's shoulders. "I quite like it, though. Much better than the last one; all those yellows…" She trailed off, making a face.

Bella caught Eve's eye again, watching as realization dawned on her face. "Oh, I'm sure _Belle_ has something to say. What is it this time? I'm too young to understand why this place is so great, or some jab at my taste again?"

"She _does_ have white hair," Isobelle muttered, rolling her eyes as she danced towards the cement steps. "I'm just saying."

Sighing, Bella tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, offering Eve a feeble smile. "It has an underground cellar beneath the basement, with an iron door. It will be good for the full moons."

"Right, right." Eve nodded. She bit her lip, looking up at the enormous building a final time before looking to the moving truck parked behind her mustang. "Well, I guess we should start unpacking."

Joy.

_~CV~_

Huffing, Bella raised her end of the couch up onto her knees so she could get a better grip, looking down the long piece of furniture to see how Eve was holding up. It was odd to see her face pink, all flushed like it was, as she was usually so pale. Eve more pale than Bella was, and people had asked if she was part albino before. "You good?" She puffed out.

"Perfect," Eve grunted back as they stepped down the single wooden step into the lounging room.

This was the final item off the moving truck, the very last thing they needed to haul in and set up. Looking back on it, loading the couch up first in England was a bad idea. Bella wasn't entirely sure why they had, come to think of it. Isobelle sighed, stretching down the entire length of the couch, hooking one leg over the back and letting her arm hang off the front. Bella knew she couldn't actually add any weight since she wasn't physically there, but the couch seemed to get heavier anyway. "Get off," She ground out, feeling the material slipping from her hands.

_Just a few more steps…_

A grin pulled at Isobelle's lips and she sat up, sitting on her knees. "Why, am I distracting you?" She began to bounce up and down in place, chuckling under her breath as Bella wheezed.

The couch hit the wooden floor with an echoing bang as they dropped it in place, close to the fire place. "Leave her alone, Belle." Eve huffed, collapsing back onto the couch next to the brunette, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans.

Isobelle snorted, though her eyes were unamused as she glared at Eve and walked across the room to the liquor cabinet. "She has some _fiele_; telling me what to do when she can't even see me."

"No one has to see or hear you to experience your annoyance, Belle." Bella replied, looking around the room. The large, crimson drapes were closed, hiding the large windows and blocking out what light this rainy city had to offer. The interior of the mansion consisted of mostly red or dark stained wood, oak, Eve's room was entirely blue though, and Bella's was grey and white. The kitchen had brighter colours as well, looking more contemporary because of the new appliances. Eve refused to let her keep the antique stove and sink, and order in every night; she insisted on fresh food and home cooked meals. Altogether, there was five levels of the mansion; the attic, the upstairs where the bedrooms and library was, the main floor with the lounging room, kitchen, studies, etc, the basement with the laundry room and the large open room, where parties were hosted back in the day, and the cellar.

Humming, Bella tilted her head to the side, examining a portrait. "Old George is crooked."

Eve looked up to it hanging above the fire place, her brows furrowing. "Sorry about that, Georgy." With a flick of her wrist, the painting straightened out. "So what's left on the list of things to do this evening?"

"Groceries," Bella muttered, laying her hand on her growling stomach. "I feel like I could eat a horse."

Isobelle shook her head with a disgusted look. "Stringier meat than you'd think, I advise against it."

Bella's eyes widened as she tried to decipher if Isobelle was joking or not, her insides twisting when she realized she wasn't. Gross.

"I've got to register for school again, too." Eve sighed, pouting at Bella. She wanted to drop out, claiming she had more important things to do and learn, none of which she'd be able to do at a regular school. She also, often, threw the whole 'you don't go to school, why should I?' argument at the older girl. Which Bella had no problem with, because she always won those.

She _had_ gone to school, and completed all of it. There was no reason for her to go back.

"That's right; you do." She replied with a firm nod.

Eve sighed again, though there was a scoff mixed up in there somewhere while she glared at Bella. "But, Bellaaaa, _why_ do I have to? What's the point of a Witch learning Calculus? Math is so _boring_, and completely wrong for that matter. How am I supposed to take Physics seriously, when I bend and break its laws every day?"

Isobelle crouched down behind the couch, crossing her arms on the back and resting her chin on her hands. "She's got a point, you know."

"You butt out; you're just taking her side because she's trying to rebel against society. You don't actually agree with her." Bella snapped, turning her attention back to Eve who looked excited, like Isobelle could actually convince Bella to let her drop out. "Not a chance, Eve. I'm sorry, but you need your education; that was one of the terms of allowing you to live with me."

"I thought my ability to help you with your wolfish problems was what earned my stay." She grumbled, glaring at the ground. Bella's eyebrows rose in surprise; Eve… Eve _never_ fought with her, not seriously. Eve met her eye again, rolling her own. "Oh don't act so surprised, Bella. You're being a hypocrite; _you_ do not follow societies rules or expectations. By all definitions, _you're_ the rebel."

"I don't have a _choice_, Eve. You know that." She shot back, crossing he arms over her chest. Why was she giving her trouble about this? They'd already discussed this back in England; everything was done and decided. Why fight her now? She glared over at Isobelle.

Isobelle got to her feet, crossing her own arms over her chest. "What? Don't look at me like that; it's as much of a curse for me as it is for you. Being stuck inside your head, only ever able to come out once a month or when you're all… riled…up." A sinister smirk pulled at her red lips. "Say, Eve sure _is_ being a brat today isn't she. Doesn't that just _boil_ you up?"

"Save it." She muttered, ignoring her. "Listen, Eve, I'm sorry but I just feel really strong about this. Education is important for your future; what happens when you want a family, children; you'll need a nice job to support them. Schooling is just too important." Eve continued to glare at her, but she could see her anger fading away until Eve sighed and nodded, hanging her head. "Is there anything I can do to try and help? You could take the Rolls Royce."

She raised a light eyebrow in interest. "Fifty-nine or Phantom?" Bella had a thing for cars; had been collecting them for years now. The large separate garage was nearly full.

"Either?" Bella said, though it came out more like a hesitant question, hoping she would choose the Phantom.

Eve nodded, seeming to consider this and after a few moments, a grin started stretching across her lips. Her eyes had a mischievous glint in them and the brunette braced herself for what the Witch was about to say. "Or… you could go to school _with_ me."

_"What?"_ Both Isobelle and Bella said at the same time. "Uh, no. No, no, no. There is _no_ way I'm going to stand around all day watching _you_ being bored in a dull class. No way. _Assolutamente _not." Isobelle continued.

School was bad enough the first time, _especially_ in the company of Isobelle… but if it meant no more fighting with Eve _and_ Bella got to get under Isobelle's skin…

"Maybe," She agreed. "Let's get some groceries first and have supper, I'll decide after."

_~CV~_

Isobelle crinkled her nose, looking at the total on the cashier's computer. "You know, I remember when you could fill your entire house full of food for on fifty dollars. Don't you miss those days?" She asked Bella.

"Back in the good old days, grandpa?" The younger girl whispered under her breath, flashing the young man behind the cash register a grin at his confused look. "Have a good evening." She murmured to him while she and Eve loaded the bags back into the cart to wheel out to the car.

Isobelle huffed, falling back a couple steps to glare holes into their backs. Eve giggled, looping her arm through Bella's. "Complaining about prices again?" Bella nodded, holding in her own smirk. "Once upon a time you could buy an entire breakfast meal and still get change back from your nickel." It was amusing to watch Eve make faces and imitate Isobelle's accent. "Who are we kidding; she can probably remember when they _invented_ the nickel."

"Now, now, Eve," Bella said, patting her shoulder. "You should really respect your elders."

Isobelle muttered dark things in Italian at them, growling under her breath.

After Bella finished helping load all the bags into the car, she gave Eve the keys and ignored her confused look. "I've got to find an herbalist shop around here somewhere; I'm running out of Wolfsbane."

"I could make a call, ask around in the Wiccan community." She offered

"Appreciated, but no offence; I don't care for dealing with Witches. Other than you, of course. Bad experiences and all." Bella replied. She nodded in understanding and started up the car. "What you _can_ do for me is get started on the pasta, though."

"Will do, El'Capitan." She saluted her with a grin and peeled out of the parking lot.

_~CV~_

Bella sighed, unwilling to complain like Isobelle, but feeling like she couldn't help it. Things used to be _much_ easier back in the day, as cliche as it sounded. You could walk down the street and pass _two_ herbalist shops, or at the very least, have someone point you in the direction to one. Now, if you asked anyone anything, they would clam up and find some excuse to leave quickly. She wasn't sure if it was because of people in general, or if some sort of instinct was telling them to run, like they could sense a predator near. Isobelle had that affect on a lot of things; especially cats. Bella was quite thankful it was the opposite with dogs, because she couldn't live without animals around, it was just… lonely, she supposed, without having her dogs around.

Eve had taken to calling her a crazy old dog lady, though. With reason; Bella had many dogs, seven in total. Three wolves, an English Mastiff, a Great Dane, a Rottweiler, and a Boxer. And though there was a lot of drool, you wouldn't _believe_ how much drool, Bella loved them all fiercely and couldn't part with them.

Finally, she had seemed to have found the right building, with just a small sign hanging above the door. A bell jingled as she entered, the aroma of many different things assaulting her nose, especially the… spicier scents. The shop was darker and low keep, some of the florescent lights burnt out, and others flickering in the back. The person behind the counter was covered in tattoos, reading a magazine and listening to the quiet music playing throughout the small building. She didn't know if she should take that as a good sign, or not. Well kept, clean cut, squares usually didn't run herbalist shops, and if they did, not very well. At least with the tattoos, there was passion for their work hidden beneath the ink.

She made her way towards the back, inspecting a few different things on her way. Nothing seemed to keep her interest for too long, however, as she skimmed over labels, packets, jars, and boxes. Money was never an issue for Bella, or rather, hadn't been in a few centuries, but she still didn't see the point of buying something she didn't have need or use of, no matter how tempting it was. Indulging oneself was one thing, but _wasting_ was another.

A concept that was lost on Isobelle, who took any and all opportunities to waste Bella's money any time she could.

"Hm, here it is." Bella murmured quietly. She glanced up into Isobelle's face, who was uncharacteristically quiet. "Scared I'll up the dose, seeing how much this owner has?" She grinned.

Isobelle glared darkly at her. "Remember who holds the power in this little… arrangement we have, dear girl." She growled. "I might just remember this the next time you lose control and I slip in."

The grin vanished from Bella's face, her own mood darkening. "It was a joke." She huffed, grabbing the Wolfsbane and took it to the front counter.

"From the usually stoic Isabella Swan? I'm surprised at you." Isobelle laughed.

The guy behind the till quirked his mouth up, mirth entering his eyes. "Wolfsbane? Planning on killing a Werewolf?" He joked.

"Not kill, just control." Bella replied quietly, paying and leaving the store quickly.

_If only…_

_~CV~_

The next morning when Bella's alarm clock went off and starting ringing in her ears, she contemplated hurling the thing through the window. But she also knew that even if she did that, Eve would just march across the hall and do many, many horrific things until she got up. So in the end, all that would accomplish was a smashed window and she'd be out an alarm clock.

With great reluctance, Bella threw her blankets back onto Rupert, her English Mastiff that usually took to sharing the bed with her, shivering at the chilly morning temperature. She was mostly used to it now though, having lived in cold or rainy climates over the years. She had tried nice sunny places for a while, but… there was just too many people. There were no secluded properties like this. People were just crammed together; house beside house, no matter the price. People _liked_ nice and warm, sunny places, and gathered there until there was no more room. They didn't like cold and rainy.

After a nice, warm shower, Bella quickly dried off and started pulling on her clothes in the master washroom attached to her bedroom. Music was blaring throughout the mansion, one of Eve's morning routines as a way to 'wake us up more', the song, if Bella was correct, was the Drumming Song by Florence and the Machine. She found herself nodding her head to the catchy beat as she pulled on a pair of dark wash jeans. She did up her belt buckle, trying hard not to start dancing around the bathroom like Eve, no doubt, was doing across the hall.

The Witch twisted this way and that way, shaking her damp, white hair around as she let the beat flow through her.

Bella smiled, pulling on a white tank top and her flannel button up over top; mostly with with white, black, and grey. She ran a brush through her hair, trying to tame the wild beast, all the while knowing it was futile. It was one of the reasons she appeared so pale in the first place, the different, dark shades of brown and deep reds, all a great contrast to her porcelain looking skin. Her eyes were a deep, warm chocolate brown, Eve often saying very wide and doe like, her facial features sharp and elegant. Isobelle was her exact match, or rather, as a Doppelganger, _Bella_ was an exact match to Isobelle.

_"It is the only way to imprison the beast! We need the doppelganger as a host-"_

She shook her head, looking back up to her reflection as she pulled the brush through her hair again. The Wolf in Isobelle had made a few, minor changes to her appearance however, the only difference between the two. Whereas Bella's eyes were a warm chocolate brown; Isobelle's irises were bigger and a glowing yellow, the whites around them black like a wolf's. Her teeth, appearing normal at first glance, had elongated canines, top _and_ bottom. And, of course, the other non-appearance related physical differences being her strength, agility, stamina, all her heightened senses.

Isobelle was capable of great pain and destruction, with a fierce bloodlust and urge to destroy. Wild, like an animal.

But was caged and now controlled, therefore not such a nightmare anymore.

"Speaking of which…" Bella sighed, uneasily eyeing the jar on the counter next to the sink. It was full of water, a way to dilute Wolfsbane to non-lethal levels, so she could use it, handle it, without being burnt or harmed. Inside the diluted Wolfsbane was jewellery; a couple of rings, a necklace, an eyebrow piercing, a tongue piercing, and a lip ring. All used every day to keep Isobelle in check and prevent the Werewolf in her from seeping over into Bella.

She took a few deep breaths, and then a couple shallow quick ones before plunging her hand into the jar. She clenched her jaw, feeling the burning sensation simmer until she pulled the jewellery back out. Like a bad sun burn. She couldn't imagine how painful it would be in concentrated doses.

Eve finished styling the high bun in her hair, the smooth, black sticks sticking out of it in just the way she wanted. She twirled around in front of her mirror again, nodding to herself. Black slacks, blue converse, and a blue T shirt with a black vest over top. She grinned a final time before leaving the washroom, about to knock on Bella's door to make sure she wasn't going back on her deal of coming to school. Just before her knuckles connected with the solid oak door, she heard the older girl's whimpering. Eve paused, each sound a blow to her heart, wishing she could share the pain so it wouldn't be so bad for Bella. "Bella?" She called out hesitantly.

It was a moment or two before Bella's pained voice replied. "I'm fine." She half choked, half cried. She blinked the tears out of her eyes, taking a final deep breath and opened her mouth to look at the tongue ring again. It was always the worst one to do.

_~CV~_

The two girls stood side by side at the entrance of the garage, gazing at all the cars. Eve looked over to Bella who had her black, wool coat buttoned up, the collar popped, and her hands shoved deeply in her pockets. Bella and the cold did not go together well. "So… which one should we take?"

The brunette pursed her lips. "I was thinking the Camaro."

"Sixty-seven?" Eve asked and Bella nodded. "Nice."

Nice, indeed.

_~CV~_

"Remind me again, why I agreed to do this?" Bella asked, standing behind the Camaro next to Eve, shifting nervously at all the people staring at them.

Isobelle groaned, strewn out along the top of the car, her arm draped over her eyes dramatically. "Remind _me_ again, why you agreed to this? I'm _bored_ already."

"Because you love me and don't want me to be here alone, that's why." Eve chirped, grinning excitedly.

Isobelle groaned again. "_I_ don't love her, can we leave? We can walk her to class, ditch, and then come back during lunch. She'll be none the wiser."

As tempting to Bella as that was, she knew she couldn't do that to Eve. She had promised, and Bella didn't break her promises. "No, we're staying here."

Eve rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Belle, get a _life_ and leave us alone for one day. Just one."

"Oh how I would love to. Instead, I have to stand here and picture the many, many ways to kill a Witch as my sole source of entertainment." Isobelle muttered darkly. "If only I had brought-" Immediately her head whipped up and around, her glowing eyes narrowing suspiciously, her nostrils flaring. Bella watched on with curiosity and slight concern, especially when her muscles started experiencing a familiar burn. Part of the Wolf, or Isobelle but that was rare, was leaking through into her consciousness. Not enough to _really_ worry about, but enough for her to feel it.

And that concerned her. "What? What is it?"

Isobelle sneered, sliding off the top of the car to stand next to the two, crossing her arms over her chest. "Vampires, of all things."

Bella's mind whirled, her eyes widening in astonishment. Yes, it was quite common for vampires to live in and travel through rainy, cloudy places; but they hardly ever came across any. Eve certainly hadn't - Eve! She had no experience with them before, did she even know about them? She hadn't known about Werewolves until meeting Bella; she was still new to all of this.

Would telling her be better or worse? Would it scare her? Or would she go looking for these vampires?

What were they doing here anyway? Hunting humans going to school? In public? With such risk of exposure?

She turned to the younger girl next to her who was still looking around the parking lot at the other students and school building with excitement in her eyes. "Eve-"

"Whoa, nice car!" Bella's brows furrowed, the interruption spiking her irritation. She turned her narrowed eyes on the source of the noise, scrutinizing the young boy standing before them. His hair was blonde and full of gel to keep it spiked up, but probably also made it crunchy and hard to the touch, his eyes round and blue, a hint of baby chub on him still. He seemed to _just_ be entering the puberty stage in life, his voice subtly hitting different octaves. Bella offered him a small, half hearted smile and nodded. He grinned, his hand reaching out to touch the smooth surface of the trunk. "Where's your boyfriend; I've got a couple questions about it? Do you know how much he paid for it?"

Again, Bella felt her annoyance well up. "I don't have a boyfriend; this car is _mine_," She said, lifting his hand off of it and letting it fall to his side before wiping the spot he touched with her sleeve. "And I don't see why the price should be of interest to you unless you plan on buying it from me. Which will never happen." She bit back at him. She also had the urge to tell him that there was absolutely _no_ way he could afford this car, not even in his dreams, but held her tongue. There was being rude to people who deserved it, and then being just plain mean.

Eve laughed nervously at the boy's blank face. "Heheh, Bella, you grump. No need to take first day jitters out on him; he was just admiring your car." She said, bumping Bella's hip with her own, giving the taller girl a look. "Sorry about that…"

"Mike Newton." The boy, Mike, replied and held out his hand with a friendly smile.

Eve shook it excitedly. "I'm Eve and that's Bella."

Mike looked Bella up and down. "So, no boyfriend, huh?"

She didn't bother hiding disgust at the thought. "I like him; he seems like a fun puppy to have around." Isobelle chirped. "He'd probably do _anything_ we asked, Bella."

"I'm not looking for one, either." She said, trying to get the message across.

Eve, taking in Bella's uncomfortable body language, and knowing that Isobelle was probably chewing off her ear at the same time, decided to speed things along. "Well, we really should head to class. I've got to try and find the Geometry room."

Mike's eyes lit up. "I've got Geometry first, too! I'll show ya where it is. What about you, Bella? You have class with me, too?" He asked, excited at the prospect.

"Uh, no," Eve said, gaining his attention again. "Bella's a senior."

Isobelle snorted. "Yeah, his grandfather's senior and then some."

"Alright, well, we better head out before we're late." Mike said. The two waved once they were across the parking lot before disappearing into the school building while Bella watched them, waving back.

Isobelle, standing next to Bella, was waving wildly at them, shouting out goodbyes, enjoying her own humour immensely. She sighed, a large smile on her face as she turned back to Bella who was scowling at the cement ground of the parking lot. "School has certainly changed over the years, hasn't it? No longer a place of education and learning, but rather a social gathering of hormone driven teenagers. Where, if you're lucky, some semblance of knowledge leaks through." She gazed around the parking lot again, closing her eyes and held up her arms. "I think I'll like it here."

_That makes one of us_, Bella sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Can we get back to more important topics like, I don't know, say _Vampires_?" She hissed, making sure to keep her voice down as she began the trek to finding her classroom. "Why are they here?"

Isobelle rolled her eyes. "Yes, like I would know. It's not as if I'm stuck in your head. You know what, why don't I just go ask them and get back to you on that?"

"Your sarcasm never ceases to annoy me, Belle." She muttered back, choosing to ignore the Wolf for the remainder of the morning.

This was sure to be a _very_ interesting, if not long, day.

_~CV~_

_The Cullen Manor. Seattle, Washington._

The dark clouds, now invisible in the dark of night, boomed with thunder, as it would until the wee hours of the morning. There was no rain this time, however, just the flashes of lightning to accompany it. It had been a while since the last thunder storm, and while most people despised it, there was, at least, one person in Seattle who enjoyed the echoing noise.

Alice smiled as the vibrations of the last round of thunder, back to back, ran up her arms. She opened her golden eyes, taking in the trees of the forest just behind their house. Most of her family were within, hunting before school that following morning. She had toyed with the idea of joining them but in the end decided against it; choosing to perch atop the house and listen to the storm. She wasn't usually so melodramatic; but as of late she just couldn't stand being around people, and by people, mostly her family. They were all so happy, and it filled her with joy at seeing them like that, but once she was gone, alone again, the joy faded into sorrow and envy.

She wasn't certain if Jasper knew this yet; she took careful steps to keep it a secret. She didn't want them to feel guilty or bad; it wasn't their _fault_ they had their mates and were happy and content. But she felt like a lost wanderer in the desert, forced to watch mirages of people laughing and playing around in a pool. It was the worst kind of torture and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Every exchange of sweet words or shared looks of love and adoration, was just a reminder that she had no one who could reciprocate those feelings for her.

Humans had proven to be a… nice distraction, for a little while at least. But even then, over time, she gave up. The passion and love they had for her paled in comparison to what she knew she _could_ have with her mate. It was just too hard to keep up such charades; how are you supposed to try and be happy with someone you _know_ isn't the one. And she had the responsibility to let them go once she knew they weren't hers, knowing they were for someone else. How could she keep them from their happily ever after, just because she couldn't find her own? It just wasn't right and she wasn't _that_ bitter. Yet.

Over the years, her mind had wandered to reasons for why she hadn't found her mate yet. The first; maybe she wasn't looking in the right place? But she knew that mates, one way or another, through coincidence or fate, found each other. Jasper was turned in Texas, recruited into the Vampire Wars, a trained killer, but somehow managed to survive the Volturi's wrath on everyone involved, met Alice, travelled to America, and found Edward. The innocent, somewhat broodish, aspiring doctor who could read minds.

That left another reason; had her mate died before she could find them? Was there a tragic accident or had they already lived out their lives? Again, there was evidence to knock that theory off the board. Emmett, mauled by a bear and laying in the grass, bleeding out, _dying, _when Rosalie gets bored and decides to go for a run through the woods, and just happens to stumble upon him in his last moments, somehow gaining the strength and control to carry his body, covered in blood, all the way back to Carlisle to be changed.

Or even Esme, who had jumped off a cliff. Whom the doctors pronounced dead. Who was even taken to the morgue. Carlisle found her again, her heart somehow beating again, so that he could change her. If that's not a miracle, Alice didn't know what was.

Over one hundred years she had waited, searched, for the one person who could complete her, and came up empty handed. Hope had long since left her; she had thrown in the towel and given up, accepting the fact that she would forever be alone. She couldn't remember her human life, not the tiniest memory, and it made her wonder. Had she been such a terrible person, such a _horrible_ being, that she didn't get a mate? Was her punishment to spend the rest of eternity alone, watching all her loved ones be happy with one another?

"You got that sad frown again, Tink." Emmett's booming voice hadn't startled her as much as it should have. Probably because she had been listening to thunder for the passed two hours; such similar sounds. The large giant walked across the rooftop, plopping down next to the small pixie, and looked up at the sky. He could see the clouds, and even stars poking through the clear spaces. "You wanna tell me what's up? Someone bothering you? Want me to clobber them?"

Alice opened her eyes again, looking at Emmett with a side glance. "I think if someone were bothering me, I'd be able to handle it myself. As appreciated the offer is." She replied, the corner of her mouth curving up.

He shrugged his massive shoulders. "Just offering; it's my job as the big brother."

"To clobber people?" She asked. He nodded. "You may fool all the others with your violent video games and the amount of wrestling you like to do with the boys and the bears, Emmett, but I know the truth." She said in her high voice.

Cocking an eyebrow, Emmett placed his elbow on his knee, resting his chin in his large palm. He looked at Alice for a moment in silence, assessing her poker face. "Oh yeah?" She nodded, serious. "And what is the truth, might I ask?"

"That you're a softy with a big, old heart. You wouldn't hurt anyone if given the chance, and if you _had_ to, you wouldn't be grinning about it. I bet you'd feel pretty guilty, for a couple decades in fact." She said. The two stared at each other for a while again, neither speaking even when the giant laid back, crossing his arms behind his head. "Am I right?"

He pressed his lips into a firm line, considering her words. "You… are getting off topic, Ali-Cat. This isn't about me, it's about you and why you've been moping the last couple of years."

"And you only _now_ decide to come talk to me? I think I may be hurt, Emmett." Alice said, batting her eyelashes and holding her hand over her heart dramatically.

He grinned at her, shaking his head. "You're good at changing the subject, ain't cha?"

"You caught that, did you?"

He nodded. "Afraid so."

She sighed, looking around the sky once more. "Well I'm not moping; I actually came up here to have a vision."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes,"

"Well by all means, do share!" Emmett said in a boisterous tone.

Alice stuck her tongue out at her brother, springing to her feet. She danced towards the ledge, stepping down off the side and onto the branch of the tree beside the kitchen wall of windows, one of which was open. "There are new students attending school, starting first thing tomorrow."

Quirking his brows, Edward stared intently at Alice, scanning her thoughts as she breezed into the living room. "And you can only see the one?"

The pixie nodded, sitting down next to her mother, curling up into her side as Esme pulled her closer. "Yes, the other is like a blind spot in my visions."

"Yet you don't sound very worried or alerted." Carlisle mentioned, writing in his notebook next to Rosalie. "You don't think we should be?"

She shook her head. "Not yet, at least. She isn't affecting my visions at all, she just… isn't in them. Like if we cut Edward out of a family photo,"

"Hey!"

"Though we can't see him anymore, we still see everyone and everything else in the picture." She finished. "I just cannot see her. I do, however, see Edward and his frustration towards her."

"And that isn't cause for caution or alert?" He asked in disbelief.

Alice shrugged one of her delicate shoulders. "Rosalie and Jasper will be pretty amused by it, so no." She giggled at the look on her brother's face, shaking her head at him. "Honestly, Edward, you really _must_ learn to relax; you'll be the first vampire in history to develop worry wrinkles."

Cooing, Jasper stroked his mate's face, sending out waves of tranquility to the poor boy. Who, if he was being perfectly honest, really did worry far too much.

"For the first time in a while, I'm actually a little excited for school." He said, feeling everyone else's interest.

_~CV~_

**Author's Note:** _ I feel like I should probably explain a few things more clearly here, that may have been confusing. For example, the whole Isobelle deal. I would think of the Isobelle and Bella situation as a… more complex split personality. I actually borrowed the idea from the show "Jekyll." The show was far too short and ended too soon for my liking, but I really enjoyed it. The only thing I really changed there was that Bella could see and hear Isobelle while other people couldn't. That's really all I can say for now without spoiling things, because I will be going into further detail about it all in later chapters, including the history of how and why it happened. However, feel free to leave questions you have because I will answer them directly to you if I can, or will remember to explain it in other chapters. You know how some details can get lost; I forget you don't know everything _I_ know, and I just assume. _

_The only other thing I really have to say is that I will be posting links to pictures of things that go along with this story, like the cars, Bella's dogs, maybe even the mansion, etc. Probably not people, though, because I can never find anyone who looks like my characters. I don't know how everyone else does, if they use photoshop or not, but I don't because I have no artistic skills beyond writing. And even that's iffy. _

_So, review if you want. I'd appreciate it, but I won't force you._

_~Crushing Velvet~_

**P.S:**_ Don't ask about the name; it's a short and boring story._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Twilight or anything familiar you read, which you will, because I've borrowed some stuff from a couple shows/movies. Can't spoil it for you by saying exactly what or who, but it belongs to their rightful owners. That works, right?_

**Rated:** _T, for now at least._

**Author: **_Crushing Velvet._

**Beta:**_ xPaige Turnerx. Whom I'm borrowing Eve from._

**Summary:**_ Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Isabella Swan. Seattle, Washington. _

_There was a sort of… not quite a pattern, but a groove_ that people had fallen into throughout the decades. Knowledge wise, at least. Not everyone seemed to see it, Isobelle hadn't and she had been around _much_ longer than Bella had, and yet the younger girl had picked up on it right away. Perhaps because she was an observer; Bella watched people, quite a bit actually. A tad on the creepy side, maybe, but incredibly informative. She couldn't help it though; even as a human she had always been shy, reserved, closed off from people, and after the curse she had taken it to the extremes. In her defence, she was just trying to keep people safe. Keep Belle away from them, and them away from Isobelle. In the beginning, Bella didn't have very much control, and therefore Isobelle had free reign quite often. That always ended in…well, blood. And so, Bella kept her distance from people, as lonely as it was at least she didn't have any blood on her hands.

That led to her people watching; she had to take what she could get in life, and if she couldn't interact and talk to people, then she'd watch them. It was more fascinating than you would think, especially as society advanced. She watched trends come and go like seasons, new catch phrases and slang made up every day, the friendlier people got, and then the meaner. Humanity had many grooves they fell into, and the most interesting, to Bella, was knowledge. How much it had changed, it was boggling.

"I know what you mean." Isobelle said, perched on the counter next to Bella's desk. The science room had one long counter lining three of the four walls with sinks, outlets, and bunsen burners spaced throughout.

Isobelle sighed, thankful she was in the back corner sitting next to only one student who had been sleeping for the majority of the class. She levelled a lazy, skeptical look at Isobelle. "I doubt it."

She shook her head, waving off the younger girl's look. "No, really; have you taken a look at one of these new addition science text books? Have you seen all the new crap they've discovered over the years?"

"Not quite where I was going." Bella muttered, continuing to work on her paper. The first class of her first day and she already had homework. Why had she agreed to this? "Besides, I have a hard time believing you actually care about human advancement in knowledge."

Isobelle stuck her chin in the air, amusement dancing in her eyes. "I happen to care a great deal. It makes me wonder how long it will take them to stumble into the supernatural world like bumbling children."

"You don't sound too happy about that." She said, holding her breath as the boy next to her shifted in his sleep to turn his head in the other direction. "I would have thought you'd enjoy that day."

The Wolf nodded, deep in thought. "That day, indeed, but the ones following it would be crap. A war or a truce would ensue afterwards." She made a face.

"And you don't want either." She asked, but it came out like a statement. She could feel Isobelle's dislike of either idea.

"Either way, it would put rules and restrictions on our existence and lives. Even more rules than you have," She had a look of disdain as she gazed down at the younger girl. "Which is _far_ too many for my liking." She lost the look, the corner of her mouth curving up in a smirk. "Besides, having them in the dark let's me play in their backyard one day a month."

Which reminded Bella that she had to set up the cellar when she got home later that evening. She stared at the Wolf for a few moments longer, her stomach feeling uneasy. The bell rang before either girl could say anything else and Bella slowly gathered her things up into her arms. She decided that being the first one out of class probably wasn't best as it left everyone else to watch you leave, but being last wasn't wise either. You risk getting stuck in a pointless conversation of friendly small talk with your teacher, that left said girl always feeling even more awkward than she was. So with deft feet, she manoeuvred herself into the crowd pouring out of the door and disappeared into the sea of students in the hallway.

Her second class, Math, had been much like the first; the only difference being that she didn't have time to listen to Isobelle's chatter, and was completely focused on her work. Math had never been her strong suit; all those numbers and formulas to remember, so dull and lifeless.

She really rather preferred History, which is what she had just before lunch. Sure, there was even more to remember there than in Math, but at least then, everything had a story. It was interesting, full of intriguing details. Or, perhaps she just found it easier because she had been around for many of the times they were studying. Having first hand knowledge always made the subject… a cakewalk, really.

It was no different that day as she found another seat in the back. She briefly wondered why no one sat back there; weren't those the more popular spots?

There wasn't much time to give it more thought as she felt a presence near her and looked up. A boy, not much older than Bella herself, stood at the corner of her desk in the isle. His hair was a mixture of blondes; honey and gold, naturally styled in a curly/wavy fashion. His eyes were a most interesting colour, like a dark, burning amber, brought out even more by the dark circles beneath them. His skin was incredibly pale, but even more pale were his scars covering his hands, arms, and neck. A few even reached up to his left eyebrow. The boy furrowed his brows in confusion, a look of surprise entering those unique eyes.

Bella didn't even have to ask Isobelle if this was a vampire; she knew he was. Though the eyes didn't add up; the few vampires she had come across over the years had ruby red eyes, or if hungry or feeling a negative emotion strongly, a deep onyx. Never had she seen, or even heard, of golden eyes on a vampire. Nor human, come to think of it.

The boy shook himself from the stare, sitting down in the desk next to her. He smiled sheepishly, sticking out his hand. "Forgive my staring; that was incredibly rude. I'm Jasper Hale, and it is a pleasure to meet you."

She wasn't sure why, but Bella had a feeling he wanted to slip the word 'finally' in there. How odd. "My name is Bella." She didn't feel the need to give her last name as she took his hand, unsurprised at the cool temperature of his skin. But details were everything to Bella, and if she was going to pretend to be human and lay low around here; then she would have to act like a human who had never come into contact with a vampire anymore. She forced surprise into her tone as she looked down at their hands. "Wow, your skin is so cold."

Jasper smiled, pulling his hand back. "Poor circulation; it runs in the family." He replied. He shifted in his seat, looking up to the front to see the teacher had began her lecture, before catching those brown eyes again. He was eager to know more about this girl, who was proving to be most fascinating. First, she didn't appear in Alice's visions, and now he couldn't use _his_ gift on her, nor would Edward be able to. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Michael Newton in the parking lot; that is your Camaro?" He asked.

"Yes," Bella replied hesitantly. What on earth was a vampire doing, asking her about her car? Or talking to her, for that matter? Was this his trap, his little play to lure her away from witnesses. Ask to go for a ride and pounce when they were alone?

"My family and I are… vehicle enthusiasts, and we don't usually meet people with… um… " He faltered, trying to pick a word. He didn't want to say nice cars, and insinuate that everyone else in the school drove bad cars. Nor did he want to say expensive, and imply a poor class on the rest of the students. "At risk of sounding like a snob; fancier cars." He finished.

She nodded slowly. "Right,"

Jasper ran a hand through his hair, offering another feeble smile. Was this what it was like when other people tried having conversations with him? Edward always said that his social skills were lacking, as he didn't have as much human contact as the others in the family did. But this… this was like talking to a wall. She was giving him nothing to go on; one word answers, staring at him like he was a puzzle. It was confounding; if anything, _she_ was the puzzle! He cleared his throat, shifting in his seat again. "So… do you like cars?"

Bella furrowed her brows, studying the boy beside her. The more he spoke, the more questions she had. Why was he trying to have a conversation with her? Why go to school? Why be civil? This was no ordinary vampire; he certainly wasn't acting like one. "Yes," She repeated.

"If you want, _I_ could get rid of him for you." Isobelle interjected. Even in human form, Isobelle could give vampires a run for their money. One on one, she was the likely candidate for the winner. "All you gotta do is just let me slip in for a little while." Bella's eyes slowly travelled over to the Wolf, narrowing slightly. She couldn't exactly say no or have a conversation at the moment, not with the vampire still staring at her. "Oh, come on. I _promise_ everything will be as you left it this time."

The last time Isobelle had control, Bella's room furniture ended up on the roof, everything in the kitchen was moved to the living room and vice versa, and Old George had a moustache painted on.

_I don't think so,_ Bella thought, trying not to outright glare at the Wolf.

Jasper watched the girl's eyes travel away from him, watched as her fingers twitched and her eyes narrowed, watched her jaw clench. All signs of anger or annoyance. And yet, he still couldn't feel any of it. It was… refreshing; being near someone and having a conversation, as one sided as it was, and not be forced to feel everything they do.

"Is something wrong?" He finally asked, gaining Bella's attention again. "You just look… upset."

"I'm fine." She shot back quickly.

He didn't' believe her, not even for a second, but nodded anyways. "As you say." He smiled.

_~CV~_

Eve found Bella just before she entered the cafeteria, skipping up to her from, seemingly, nowhere. The Witch latched onto her arm, grinning up at the brunette. "Bella! How has your morning been? Did you talk to anyone? Make any friends? Ooh, any enemies? How about the work? Was it hard? Or is all school work really easy for you? Can you help me with mine; I don't understand Chemistry!"

Belle raised her eyebrows, exchanging looks with Bella. "Is she even breathing?"

The girls pushed open the doors to the cafeteria, the smell of french fries, pizza, and pasta invading their noses. Bella furrowed her brows, looking down at Eve. "Um, tedious, yes, no, no, boring, not really, some subjects, and I guess so." She said, ticking off all the questions in her head. She nodded to herself when she was confident she answered them all.

Eve looked up at her like she was insane. "What?"

"Your questions, I-"

Once again that day, she was cut off before she could finish. And as fate would have it; by the same person again.

"Bella! Eve! Over here, guys!" Mike stood up from his chair, waving madly. As if they wouldn't see him. Which Bella really wished they hadn't.

She slowly turned back to Eve, her eyes narrowed. The Witch gulped, smiling sheepishly. "I may have… um, maybe said we'd sit with him and his friends." She scowled when Bella's eyes narrowed even more. "What was I supposed to do? He asked and we didn't have anywhere else to sit. We don't know anyone else."

"Yes, because sitting by ourselves is just unfathomable." Bella muttered.

Eve sighed. "It's not going to kill you to be a little more social," _No, but it might kill them,_ Bella thought sourly. "Come on."

"Must we?" She groaned, letting Eve pull her along.

Mike grinned as they arrived at the table, wrapping his arm around Eve's shoulders and resting his hand on Bella's back. She fought the urge of shaking it off, not wanting to be rude to him again. Even if he deserved it. "Guys, this is Bella and Eve. That's Eric," He pointed to an Asian boy with glasses and dark hair who offered a friendly, albeit lingering, look. "Ben," The boy next to him waved, his own dark hair mostly hidden beneath a beanie. "Angela," Another girl with long hair and glasses. "And Jessica and Lauren." He finished. The two could have been barbie lookalikes.

Eve beamed, tucking her white bangs behind one ear. "It's nice to meet you all."

One of the barbies screwed up their face in disgust, her green eyes roaming over both girls. "Why are you dressed like that?"

Bella and Eve looked at each other and then their clothes, trying to comprehend what Lauren meant. Isobelle cocked her head to the side, staring at Lauren. "Well, looks like we've found the bitch of the group. Not that she doesn't have a point; your wardrobe could use some work. All your clothes just _scream_ teenager." The Wolf had an obsession with suits and ties and vests. Bella couldn't count how many mornings she woke up in fancy clothes after Isobelle was loose for the night.

Angela smiled weakly, clearing her throat. "Well I like it; this group could use a change from preps, jocks, and nerds." She laughed, pushing her glasses back up her nose with a grin.

"Yeah, now we've got emo's." Jessica muttered.

Ben scratched his chin. "I think they're alternative. Not emo."

Mike nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah; emo's are the ones with the tight pants and all the makeup. Like Stacy and her friends." He said, pointing across the room.

"But Lauren and Jessica wear tight clothes and a butt-load of makeup." Eric said. The two Barbies huffed and scoffed, taking mirrors out of their enormous purses to look at themselves.

Slowly Bella's eyes travelled back to Eve who had another sheepish look on her face for the bad choice of agreeing to sit with these people. Bella sighed deeply, folding her arms on the table in front of herself, hiding her face in them. Eve leaned in close as the group around them continued to argue about what classified people as emo's, jocks, and preps. "I'm sorry, Bella. We can sit alone tomorrow."

She groaned loudly.

This was still just the very first day.

Joy.

_~CV~_

The Cullens sat at their table in the back of the cafeteria, trying to block out everyone else's conversations so they could have their own. It was just Edward, Alice, and Emmett; the three still waiting for Jasper and Rosalie to arrive. Jasper had sent them a text just a few minutes earlier saying he had met one of the new girls. Edward had also met one of them, the younger one named Eve, and was currently filling the other two in.

He ran a hand through his bronze locks, sitting back in his chair with a smile. "She's quite friendly, and polite, too. Struggled a little in class; I don't think she likes Chemistry."

Emmett waved it off with a grin. "Who does - but get to the good stuff; could you read her mind?" He seemed quite excited about this, though Alice was already nodding her head.

"Yes, I could." Edward replied, shaking his head as Emmett pouted. "I assume it is the other girl whose mind I can't read." He made a face, not looking forward to meeting Eve's sister. Although, she never outright said that this 'Bella' was her sister.

Both the blonde Cullens sat down at the table, Rosalie's hand reaching out for Emmett's, and Jasper pulling his chair up next to Edward's. Alice struggled to keep her smile in place, looking up at Jasper with as much chipper as she could. "So? What is Bella like? That was her name, right?"

Jasper nodded. "Yes, and she's most infuriating!"

A look of shock made its way around the table at the quietest Cullen's outburst. Rosalie furrowed her brows, already not liking this new girl. "Why? What did she do?"

Jasper shook his head, ignoring Edward's little smile and tried not to laugh himself. "Well, nothing really. I mean; I've just never met someone as…as… well, for lack of a better term; mysterious."

A booming laugh escaped Emmett, Rosalie's guard lowering again while Alice and Edward snickered. The humans around the school had deemed all the Cullens odd and mysterious, Jasper more so because he was so quiet and avoided people like the plague. It was amusing to see the shoe on the other foot. "She's mysterious, is she, brother?"

Jasper huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, yes. Every time I tried to talk to her or ask questions; she would reply with vague, one worded answers. And forget about anything personal; she'd answer with another question and before I knew it; I had told her _our_ story instead of finding out hers." He grumbled to himself. "So, she know's about our 'adoption' and everything, and we know nothing about her or the other one."

"I'd hardly classify that as mysterious, Jazz." Alice chirped. "I'd say shy, or socially awkward."

The blonde shifted in his seat, his brows furrowing again. "There were other things, too. It was kind of weird, she's really… different. And odd." He looked over to Edward who frowned, seeing his memories of the girl's strange behaviour. "Even more odd than us."

"Oh hey, look over there, Bella. It's Edward and his family." The Cullens all paused, hearing their brother's name.

They looked across the room to one of the 'popular' tables. The group seemed to have gained two new members, though they hardly fit in; not that Eric, Angela, and Ben ever really fit in either. A skater and two geeks. Jessica leaned closer to the new girls, lowering her voice. "You met the Cullens already?"

Eve nodded happily. "Yes, I've got Chemistry with Edward and he told me a little about them."

Bella's head whipped up, her eyes widening in panic. "You have Chemistry with…him?" She had almost called him an it. Eve nodded, confusion colouring her face. The brunette tried to act casual, offering a deceiving smile. "So; you're really not getting Chemistry? You don't really like it, either; how about you drop the class? Biology is much easier, and I think you'd like it."

The Witch frowned, wondering why Bella was being so… lenient. Usually she'd tell the younger girl to suck it up and keep trying; helping her if she'd need it. "Well, I mean, I'd like to." She said, then remembering Bella's words. "But you can't just quit or give up when something's hard; you'll never accomplish anything like that. I'll need that credit."

_Great. Perfect. Of all the times to listen to my advice, she chooses NOW?_ Bella's smile turned strained, ignoring Isobelle snickering behind her. "That's… true, but you don't really _need_ a Chemistry credit, specifically, do you? Wouldn't any science credit be enough?"

"Yes, I do - Bella, why are you acting so strange?" Eve asked.

"I'm not, I just don't want you to have even more stress than you already do. New house, new city, new school, new people; why add hard work to that?" She smiled, feeling like her face was going to crack. When was the last time she had smiled this much? And fake smiles hurt even more than real ones. Bella desperately wished Eve would just agree with her and drop the class already.

Sitting next to a vampire all class, oblivious.

The girl had serious problems with attracting danger to herself; first a Werewolf, now a Vampire.

"I'm staying in Chemistry, Bella." Eve said firmly.

The brunette bit her trembling lip, the muscles in her face feeling like they were on fire from all the work it took to keep the smile on her face. _"Good for you."_ She squeaked out.

Slowly, Jasper turned back to everyone at the table. All of the golden eyes were filled with confusion of what had just happened. He shook his head, resting his chin in his palm with his elbow on the table.

"Told you."

_~CV~_

"Vampires?"

Bella wiped the sweat from her forehead, grabbing the steel chains and began tugging on them. "Yeah," She panted. "Vampires. Suck your blood, sparkle in the sun, Vampires."

She had been in the cellar below the basement for fifteen minutes, finding the most sturdy, but largest room. There was one with a small light in the middle of the ceiling with a large, cement door as the only entrance and exit. She had taken off the door knob on the inside so that the only way to open the door was from the outside; the space between the door and wall too small for her fingers to slip into to grab and pull the door. Eve had helped her screw lanterns up in all the corners of the room, and since then they had been talking about school while Bella drilled in hooks and loops in the walls, ceiling, and floor. She had gotten Eve to lock the one end of each of the chains to all the hooks and loops with silver locks. At the other ends were different sized shackles for her wrists, ankles, and neck.

In a portable mini fridge across the room were dozens of water bottles, a few jars that had necklaces with long chains in them, and on top of the fridge was a box with Wolfbane in it. She had to drink and wear the watered down Wolfbane before the moon came out those nights, so that the Wolf would be weakened enough to not be able to break the steel chains.

Full moons kind of sucked for Bella.

"Ohh. So _that's_ why you wanted me to drop Chemistry." Eve gasped. "Wow; the Cullens are vampires!"

"Duh," Bella sighed, flopping down onto the cement floor, exhausted.

Eve sat down next to her, frowning as she played with her shoe laces. "Well that sucks; I met another one last period. Her name's Alice; you'd really like her."

"Vampire, Eve. That one in History, Jasper, was lucky he didn't bring out Belle and the Wolf. Being around two, or five, would most definitely." She took a deep breath, trying to let go of the stress.

She had enough to deal with as it was; she didn't need to worry about like a Vampire or not.

_~CV~_

**Author's Note:** _Well there you have it, folks; chapter two. The girls' first day of school complete, and Bella met a Cullen. I also wanted to thank all you guys who reviewed the first chapter; and hope you'll review again._

_~Crushing Velvet~_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Twilight._

**Rated:**_T._

**Author:**_Crushing Velvet._

**Beta: **_xPaige Turnerx. Whom I'm borrowing Eve from._

**Summary:**_Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Isabella Swan. Seattle, Washington._

She stared at the woods behind the back yard, stared for a couple hours, in fact. They were ominous and welcoming both at the same time, and Bella hated that something so dark and foreboding called out to her. The trees were tall and looming, and unconsciously made you feel small and insignificant. Their branches were sharp and rough, reaching out and snatching at your clothing if you weren't careful. She could hear the light whistle of the wind blowing through them, and the rushing water of a few different streams that were close by. She knew that there were many different hills and ditches, fallen logs and small boulders, making it hard to navigate. And if all that wasn't enough; the temperature deep inside the woods was a few degrees lower than everywhere else, producing a constant layer of fog hovering just above the ground, every night.

Bella sighed, holding out her hand as Duke dropped the tennis ball into it. She ignored the slobber and drool that covered it, and now covered her hand, and pulled her hand back behind her head. She let it snap forward, and watched the lime green ball shoot out into those woods until she could no longer see it. Duke gave her a grin, or what she considered was a grin for dogs, and then bolted after it. Great Danes were damn fast.

There was no need to worry about him, even after his black and white fur disappeared from site. As frightening as those woods were, Bella knew she was the scariest thing that would _ever_ enter them. With her scent all over her dogs, not even a bear would pick a fight with them.

The thought of her dogs briefly pulled her out of the… funk she had been in since setting up the cellar. She had no doubt that Rupert was snoring away on her bed, absolutely thrilled that he wouldn't have to share it with her (That dog, sometimes she could _just_…), while she could hear Bear chomping away at his dish in the kitchen. He was constantly eating, and if Bella didn't take him running in the evening every day, he would be such a porker. Butch was watching a muted TV, as he rarely ever slept but Bella didn't want him to get lonely or bored so she always left it on for him to watch, even if he was just a dog. Her three wolves were sitting with her in the middle of the large back yard, Shadow slightly closer to the woods and in front of her, ready to protect her just in case something came chasing Duke back out. Bandit was curled around her left side and resting his head in her lap, ever the cuddly one, and Katerina sat up straight beside her.

She sighed again, watching her breath curl through the air like smoke, resting her elbow on her knee that wasn't occupied, and her chin in her palm. Katerina's nearly glowing yellow eyes(she hated that she felt just the slightest sliver of shame whenever she looked at the wolves, knowing just how similar their eyes could be) glanced up at the noise and action. She knew all dogs could feel their owners emotions, at least to some degree, but Bella sometimes wondered if it was more than that just because of Isobel. It was always like Katerina _knew_ what she was feeling, what she was thinking.

There was just too much intelligence in her eyes.

"I feel…" She began, staring at the dog. She realized that there was no way to continue that sentence. "I just _feel_." She said, more firmly. She didn't feel sick or angry, not ill, or like she was slipping. She just felt. "It's like I'm… like my _body_ is humming. My entire body is… not tingling, but maybe vibrating? The word thrumming comes to mind, but I can't even elaborate." She said into the silence.

Duke charged out of the woods and skidded to a stop in front of them, dropping the ball. Bella absently picked it up and launched it off, lost in her thoughts. The dog jumped around in a circle excitedly before zipping off into the trees again.

Bella looked up to one of the windows on the top floor of the mansion, closing her eyes and listening to Eve snore lightly. "I can't even chalk it up to the moon." She mumbled, biting her lip as she gazed up at the pale saucer in the sky. It was true, being out in the moon light, things were… different. Everything was so _clear_ to her; the sounds she could hear, and from behind walls and long distances. She could smell the earth, smell the rain that was headed their way. The breeze on her skin was so intense… no, just so… _noticeable._

But this was just so different. Like nervous butterflies, but not.

It was distracting, annoying, throwing her off, putting her on edge, and upsetting her. Upsetting her because it just felt so _good_. She felt alive, it made her anxious, made her feel light, like she was floating, and she was constantly having to fight off the urge to smile.

What _was_ it?

"I just want it to stop." She muttered helplessly.

She didn't _want_ to feel good. She didn't _want_ to feel alive, all anxious and light, didn't want to smile. It was too easy to lose control like that; if she got all caught up in those emotions, Isobel could slip in without her even realizing.

She had to keep her guard up and her emotions under control, all the time.

"And miss out on your happiness? What a sad way to live, my friend." Isobel chirped, plopping down on the other side of Bandit.

The wolves shifted and they sniffed the air. Bella knew they could sense the Wolf, they just didn't realize it was coming from _her_ and not from someone hiding where they couldn't see. "If I could have happiness, this wouldn't be called a curse, now would it?" Bella asked flatly.

Isobel grunted, nodding. "Witches are cruel, aren't they?"

"Always makes me wonder why _you_ saved Eve four years ago." She murmured.

She lifted her shoulders and dropped them in a shrug. "Boredom, mostly."

Bella sighed again, watching Duke pause as he entered the yard again, raising his snout to sniff the air.

_~CV~_

Jasper watched the little pixie bounce around the living room as they waited for Edward and Rosalie to finish getting ready for school. His lips quirked up in amusement as he watched her nearly shake with her excitement. He could't help but throw his head back and bark out a laugh at her, his eyes crinkling as she beamed up at him. Her happiness was almost overwhelming and he felt like he was going to explode with it. His heart almost ached.

"What?" Emmett asked, his lips twitching. His golden eyes flickered back and forth between his little sister and brother, crossing his large arms over his chest. "Come on; tell me. What's up?" He said, pouting a little.

Emmett did not like being left out of a joke.

Shaking his head, Jasper started reflecting her emotions, throwing them out in waves until the entire room was filled with them. "I don't know; ask the little bundle of joy here." He said cheerily.

Bright warmth entered Emmett's chest, and Esme's as she entered the room to see what was going on. The effects were immediate, and they both started grinning; Esme gaining a cheery little hop in her step. Emmett boomed out a laugh. "What's got you full of rainbows, happy faces, and little hearts, Tink?" He asked, describing the feelings he couldn't shake.

Alice bit her lip to stop from singing her answer. She had stayed out hunting all night just to try and calm down so she could avoid this very situation.

It had started during last period the previous afternoon. It was Art, her favourite class, and she was at her table in the back corner. She had just been sketching in her note book, waiting for the class to start, when she was hit by this _powerful_ scent. It nearly knocked her out of her chair and had her dazed. A delicious mixture of a handful of exotic fragrances you'd only find in the most remote forests. The only one smell she could pinpoint, for sure at least, was freesia.

She had looked up, mouth hanging open, nearly drooling, and into the light eyes of one of the new students.

That scent had been with her since, filling her up and making her feel high, making her feel…well, like she was full of rainbows, happy faces, and little hearts.

It was too late to try and hide it now, though, as her family gave her amused, curious looks.

Even Edward and Rosalie were, having finally finished getting ready. The blonde was looking at her curiously, while Edward looked stunned. She smiled widely at him, and then the rest of the family. "I think I found my mate." She said.

Emmett was the first to react; scooping her up into his arms and spinning her around and around. The pixie was nearly lost in his large arms, grumbling to herself about her hair and outfit, while he gave out a joyous laugh. "That's freaking awesome, Tink!"

The second she was put down, she was in another pair of arms. Jasper rested his chin on her head, basking in her happiness. "It is; this is great news, Alice."

"Thanks, Cowboy." Alice grinned, launching herself at their mother who opened her arms. Esme laughed softly, patting her back.

Rosalie smiled gently down at her sister, though she couldn't help the worry creeping up. If she found her mate, it was obviously one of their classmates.

A human.

Still, she put on a smile for her sister, her voice nothing but encouraging. She wouldn't let her worries get in the way of Alice's happiness; everyone knew how hard it was for Alice to watch them all without her own mate. "Who is this lucky boy?"

Alice faltered and Edward gasped. "Actually, it's… it's a girl." She said, her tone only losing _some_ of it's cheer.

Both Edward and Jasper looked at each other, things getting quiet. Again, it was Emmett who broke the silence with a booming laugh. "Well, I never took you for _that_ kind of girl."

Alice narrowed her eyes. "Hardy har har."

"You were always so _feminine_." He continued, laughing harder as he went on.

"Classic, Em." She huffed.

He flexed his large arms, grinning from ear to ear. "Though I did always wonder why you never swooned at this fantastic body." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"So who is this lovely young lady?" Esme asked, excited.

Again, Alice hesitated, looking to Edward and the others. "Actually, it's one of the new girls."

Esme raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh? What's her name?"

Alice smiled again. "Eve."

_~CV~_

"Eve," Bella groaned, watching her chug the last of the apple juice. The older girl pouted, something she rarely did, watching as nothing but a drop was left.

The Witch laughed at her dearest friend and the immature face, pinching her cheek. "That's what you get for staying up all night and falling asleep outside. You scared me half to death when I went to your bedroom to wake you up." She noticed the pout turn into a frown and the heavy darkness return to Bella. There was a constant black cloud following the poor girl around. "Why _were_ you up all night?"

"Couldn't sleep." Bella said with a shrug and started pouring herself a cup of orange juice. Her tone made it clear they she wouldn't elaborate. "Orange juice," She grumbled, a shadow of that pout returning.

Deciding to change the subject, Eve hoisted herself up onto the counter top, munching on her Pop Tart. "So, what's with the badass get-up today?"

Bella pursed her lips and looked down at her clothes. She wore loose fitting, black faded jeans, and a pair of black combat boots. Her grey T shirt with dark red intricate swirls up the side was form fitting, and had an old, black, leather coat over top, with a buckle on the collar. Her dark locks flowed over her shoulders and to the small of her back, her rich brown eyes looking darker today than usual. Her piercings were the same; a metal ring in her eyebrow and lip, the metal ball on her tongue.

She shrugged her shoulders, looking up at Eve curiously. "I'm not sure what you're talking about." She replied.

Eve raised an eyebrow, a secret smile on her lips. "Well, I could be mistaken, but it _looks_ like you are trying to catch eyes today. I assume we're taking the Camaro again?" Bella nodded slowly. "Ha! See? You're totally working the _'bad girl'_ image today."

"I still don't know what you're talking about, Eve. I'm just wearing clothes." She insisted.

Eve nodded, hopping off the counter. "Alright, don't tell me who you're trying to reel in."

"Honestly, Eve, I'm not trying to 'reel anyone in'. I'm not interested in _any_ of those hormone ridden teenagers." Bella grumbled. "Even if I was, you know I could do nothing about it. Why would I dress up?"

The shorter girl hummed, her brows furrowing. "Good point." She agreed. "Well let's go, before we're late." She chimed, skipping off to the front of the mansion.

Rolling her eyes, Bella glanced into the living room as she stalked down the hall, nodding at Butch who lifted his head to look over the back of the couch.

_~CV~_

_Does she even realize she's doing it_, Eve wondered to herself from the passenger's seat. She watched as Bella slid on a pair of aviator shades, peeling down the long gravel path.

She tilted her head to the side, inspecting the brunette. Was it Isobel, influencing her decisions on her wardrobe?

Eve knew that the Wolf felt Bella dressed too much like a teenager. While this wasn't the appearance of an adult, it was still… more mature.

She hummed again, looking back out the window.

_~CV~_

Mike's eyes widened as he watched the tall brunette get out of her car. He was leaning against his own little kleenex box with wheels, and had been waiting for the new girls to arrive. He glanced over to Tyler and Lauren who were next to him, making out like the world was about to end. "You think I could start driving her around in her car when we start dating?" He asked. "I'd look hot driving that thing, right?" He paused, nodding to himself. A grin stretched across his face, _I'd have to beat chicks off with a stick if I drove that thing._

"She didn't seem that into you yesterday, dude." Tyler said, pulling back from Lauren long enough to nod his approval at the two girls standing next to the shiny Camaro. "That _is_ pretty hot, though. I actually think I felt a vibe between us during lunch." He said with a thoughtful look.

"Tyler!" Lauren squawked. "You were kissing me, literally, two seconds ago and now you think you shared a _vibe_ with goth chick?"

"She's not goth." Mike said with an annoyed expression, waving his hand at them. "She's just deep, and dark, and…"

"Hot," Tyler repeated.

Mike smirked, nodding and high-fived his friend. "Definitely hot; she's mine, though."

Tyler scoffed, completely ignoring Lauren now, who stomped off with a red face. "You think you could land a chick like that?"

"Uh, yeah." Mike huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as the new girls made their way to class. "We're friends, practically tight already. I just have to put the moves on her, and she'll be begging to go out with me."

"Not if she's already going out with me." Tyler laughed.

Mike's face fell as he looked over at his friend. "Dude…" He said, watching a smirking Tyler stroll off to class. "Dude! I called her first!" He hollered after him.

_~CV~_

"Good morning, Bella." Jasper said cheerily as he sat down next to the sullen girl. He eyed her leather coat and the shades in her hair with interest, wondering if she didn't own a few bikes as well.

The girl nodded in return, looking up at the happy smile on the vampire's face. What was _he_ smiling about? Her eyes narrowed slightly, inspecting his unusual golden eyes. They were darker today than yesterday, and Bella relaxed when she decided that he hadn't fed recently. So why was he so happy? "Morning."

"How are you today?" He found himself asking; Alice's excitement was still affecting him.

Bella pressed her lips into a thin line. "I am… well." She said, observing him. His question, and curiosity, were both genuine, and it threw Bella off. "Thank you for asking." She said slowly.

The class continued on normally and the two took notes and read from their textbooks. Jasper glanced over to Bella every now and then, trying to think of how to approach the subject of her sister(?). He actually never found out if the girls were family or not.

He ran a hand through his hair, setting down his text book and smiled softly at her as she looked up at him curiously. "So, your sister…" He said, trailing off and waiting for a response to his assumption.

Bella didn't blink.

Jasper felt like slamming his head down on his desk. This girl was so _frustrating_ sometimes. It was like talking to a dog; nothing to read, no signals to go by. His smile trembled slightly, but he continued on. "Well, is your… sister seeing anyone currently?" He asked.

Her jaw clenched; it was the only reaction he noticed. Just barely, at that; he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been a vampire.

This girl must have been _phenomenal_ at poker.

Isobel doubled over behind Jasper, laughing hysterically. Tears were streaming down her red face as she laughed and laughed, pointing at the brunette like she had something on her face. The Wolf actually found nothing about this situation funny at all; it was boring, really, but knew her laughing would get under Bella's skin.

The girl was overly protective of the Witch; insanely so. This had to have been driving her crazy, and Isobel didn't hesitate to add to the girl's annoyance.

"No," She finally responded, her voice cold.

The grin on Jasper's face grew wider, the tone of her voice seemingly having no effect on him. "So, she _is_ your sister, then?"

Eve had been living with Bella for four years. Bella had been watching out for, taking care of, and getting close to her in all that time. They weren't family by blood, but by choice. There wasn't another person on the planet that either girl trusted more, or was closer to.

"Yes,"

Jasper nodded, furrowing his brows. "Adopted?"

"No," Bella shook her head. She didn't have any parents, who were still alive, to adopt the Witch, and Eve didn't have any parents, that she knew, to adopt Bella. Not that they would have, anyways.

"Then how?" Jasper asked curiously, his interest in the two growing.

For the first time, he saw a warmth enter those blank brown eyes. Her tone was different, too, as she replied to him. "Paperwork doesn't make someone your family."

With raised eyebrows, Jasper nodded slowly. "You're right." He agreed, thinking of his family. Paperwork only made their family ties official, but they had joined the family by choice.

The bell rang and the two got up and started gathering their things together. Bella finished first, like usual, but stuck around until Jasper was finished today. He looked at her curiously and she bit her lip. "I… I am sorry, but you aren't her type."

His brows furrowed until realization dawned on him. "Oh! No, uh, no, no. I'm not interested in your sister; I apologize if I gave you that impression. I'm in a happy relationship with Edward." He said quickly. "I was just… curious."

Her own brows furrowed as she nodded slowly. "Right…"

"Good day, Bella." He said with a friendly smile.

Bella was deep in thought on her way towards the cafeteria.

_~CV~_

**Author's Note:** _I would like to point out, before all of you ask, that this IS an Alice and Bella pairing. Alice is under the illusion that Eve is her mate because of her SCENT. Which may or may not *coughcough* actually be HER scent that Alice was smelling. I mean, Eve does hang around Bella ALL day and night._

_A special thanks to xPaige Turnerx for her expertise in editing and adding detail to this. Without her; you'd be reading a bunch of jot points and never ending paragraphs. _

_So, review please._

_~Velvet_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Twilight._

**Rated:**_T._

**Author:**_Crushing Velvet._

**Beta: **_xPaige Turnerx. Whom I'm borrowing Eve from._

**Summary:**_Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Seattle, Washington._

"So how goes wooing the elf, Tink?"

The Cullen kids all set their nearly empty trays down at their table, gracefully sliding into their chairs while they attempted to ignore the staring. This morning had gone one rather slowly for them all, wanting to just get to the cafeteria to ask Alice that very question themselves. Whether it was Jasper's doing or not, they all found themselves excited and eager for Alice, wanting her to be happy with her own mate. Though the smallest Cullen was constantly smiling and giggling, the rest of them always felt almost guilty, her having to watch them all be with their mates.

The pixie's shoulders rose and fell, her smile a tad dim. Jasper could feel the waves of frustration rolling off his little sister, and worked to quickly calm her down, sending out his own waves of tranquility. She smiled gratefully, glancing around at all her siblings. "It's going…well, it's going." She sighed, shaking her head. "I changed my schedule this morning, and switched so I was in her English class second period, to spend more time with her."

"And?" Rosalie asked, watching as Edward's eyebrows furrowed. She hated how the two could have entire conversations without so much as looking at each other. The fact that they didn't even know they were doing it sometimes was even more aggravating.

"She was happy to see me," Alice replied_, if a little cautious for some reason_. "I got to sit next to her even, and we talked all class about this and that. It was nice."

Furrowing his brows, Emmett propped his elbows up on the table and his chin in his hands, wiggling his eyebrows at his youngest sister. "So why aren't we all full of rainbows and itty bitty hearts again?"

Huffing to herself, Alice shifted in her seat. She opened her mouth a few times, trying to vent her frustrations to everyone, only to close it again and shake her head. It was difficult to explain, but… "It…doesn't feel right." A few pairs of eyes widened and she quickly backtracked. "No! I mean, it doesn't feel _wrong_ or anything, but… I don't know how it's supposed to feel, but I think it's supposed to be different from this."

Jasper placed his hand on her shoulder, sending out stronger waves of calm. "Just take a minute and collect your thoughts. Talk us through it, maybe we can help."

She nodded, taking a deep, unnecessary breath. "Okay. Her scent is good, like, _really_ good, it drives me nuts. I just want to…" Alice trailed off, seeing where Emmett's thoughts were going and glared at Emmett and his smile fell as he closed his mouth, keeping his joke to himself. "And Eve is really pretty, her and her sister are the only things any of these boys talk about. But when I look at her, when I'm around her, talking to her," Her face fell, a deep, heavy, hopeless sigh escaping her. "It's not enough. I like her, I really do, she's so nice and polite and funny, but there's… there's nothing _there_, you know?"

"Alice…" Edward murmured quietly.

Her golden eyes were darkening by the minute, looking so sad that he had to look away. "I've heard you guys talking about it before, I've _seen_ how you are with your mates. You can't stand being away from them; they're your other half, they complete you and fill up that emptiness. You can't get enough of each other. I don't feel that way for Eve. I feel like I'm still searching, waiting, like my mate is still somewhere else out there."

Rosalie shook her head, growling quietly to herself. She didn't like seeing Alice so sad, she just wanted the little pixie to be happy. No one else in the world deserved happiness as much as her sister did. "But Carlisle _said_," She growled, glaring around the table at her brothers and mate. They all shrunk away, not having the answers she wanted. "He said this was how it is. We find out mates by their scent! The one scent in the world that burns you in a completely _different_ way."

It was the same for her and Emmett. His scent drove _her_ crazy, and spread that burning in her throat through her whole body, to the tips of her toes, in a deliciously _good_ way. Better than any blood; human, animal, or otherwise.

Defeated, Alice let her forehead lightly smack the table top. "Maybe she just smells really good."

"That doesn't make sense, though. You'd be thirsty, unable to control yourself if she just smelled really good." Jasper argued. "That is your mate's scent. I've _felt_ how you feel when you smell it, Alice. It's a match."

The cafeteria doors swung open and Edward scooted over in his chair, reaching out to squeeze Alice's hand and look at her sympathetically. "Perhaps you just expected too much? Give it another try; Jazz is right, the scent doesn't lie."

Alice looked over to see Eve giggling and pushing her sister off into the lunch line and earning a grumble, sighing to herself. "Alright," She nodded. "I'll try again."

_~CV~_

Watching the grumbling Werewolf stalk over to the lunch line, Eve shook her head with a large grin. Sometimes it was just too fun messing with Bella. She sighed happily, turning to find a new empty table so that the two could sit alone and in peace that lunch. She really _did_ feel guilty having forced Bella to endure forty five minutes with young teenagers, who if she were being completely honest, were annoying. The one couple, Angela and Ben, were tolerable, actually quite nice and she didn't think Bella had too big of a problem with them, but the rest were shallow, gossiping, preps. They were everything Eve didn't like in people, everything Bella couldn't stand.

She wouldn't do that to her sister again, no matter how much fun it was watching Bella try to ignore the thick headed blonde boy, Mike. Nothing short of beating him over the head with a giant neon sign saying 'I don't like you' could discourage the boy, and even then Eve was certain he'd somehow convince himself that was foreplay.

"Oh, Alice!" Eve gasped, jumping slightly at the silent pixie who appeared from, seemingly, nowhere. She placed her hand over her racing heart, offering the shorter girl a wide, friendly smile. "You gave me a fright!" She laughed.

Smiling, Alice took a deep breath, savouring that deliciously sweet scent that was even more potent than it had been that morning. She briefly wondered how that was possible, but shook off the questions to concentrate on the girl in front of her. "I'm sorry, Eve, didn't mean to scare you." She giggled. "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk or something, maybe?" She asked, clasping her hands behind her.

Eve faltered, tilting her head to the side. "What?" She asked. As far as Lauren and Jessica explained the previous day, the Cullens mostly stuck to themselves, were a very reserved family that hardly ever interacted with the rest of the student body. Now, Eve figured it was because they were vampires, and it was probably for the humans' safety they did this, not because they were 'weird and rude' like Jessica insisted. "Um, why?" She asked, shaking her head in confusion.

She had thought Alice was just a friendly person, and if they were in the same class, it was just her being polite talking to her and stuff. But Alice was now going out of her way to talk with her, inviting her for a walk, alone. No matter how many times Bella had spent the night trying to convince Eve that vampires were dangerous and she should drop her Chemistry and art class, Eve just couldn't see Alice, or Edward for that matter, as the dangerous type. They were too nice, too friendly. She couldn't see them hurting anyone.

This _was_ weird, though. Not _weird_ weird, either, but different weird. Dangerous, weird?

No. Alice just wanted to go for a walk. That was all. She wasn't planning anything. If she had wanted to hurt Eve, she would have done so already, in class, or even after school, following her and Bella home.

Even if it _was_ some scheme, she was a _Witch_ for crying out loud. She could take care of herself, or at least well enough until Bella could save her. Sure, Bella wasn't much of a fighter, Eve was actually certain there wasn't a physically violent bone in the girl's body, but if there was ever any trouble, all she had to do was give in to Isabelle and let the Wolf deal with it. That would either scare off the danger, or prove to be enough of a distraction to where she could run and find safety and wait for Bella to return.

Alice watched confusion and more of that caution bubble to the surface in Eve's light eyes. She bit her lip, rocking on the balls of her feet as she waited anxiously for the taller girl's answer. This was a fine example of what she was talking about with the others. If Eve really was her mate, shouldn't she be feeling at least a _little_ of what Alice was? She didn't have to be eager and excited, jumping at the chance to go for a walk, but couldn't she, at the very least, not have such a problem with it? This girl was clearly debating with herself; shouldn't she be willing to?

"Just to talk," Alice shrugged. "You said you were having troubles thinking of your art project, and maybe I can help."

_Oh._ Eve bit her own lip, her eyes travelling from the pixie to Bella loading up her tray with food. She watched as those deep, dark brown eyes shot to the side and narrowed, probably at something Isabelle said to irritate her. "Well, I don't know, I mean… I don't want Bella to sit alone." _Even if she's never REALLY alone,_ she thought to herself, looking back down to Alice.

The vampire furrowed her brows. "Don't you guys sit with your friends over there?" She asked, turning to look back at the popular table.

She scratched the back of her neck. "Yeah, but, she's not really friends with any of them yet. She isn't very social and usually relies on me to do the talking."

"There you go! Now she'll have to do her own talking and become friends with them." Alice chirped. "It's a win win."

Eve snickered, shaking her head. "Alright, fine. You're very persistent, you know that?"

With a smirk and a wink, Alice began leading Eve back out of the cafeteria. "Gotta be, who knows how much longer you'd make me wait for you?"

A century was long enough, and Alice was tired of waiting.

_~CV~_

"Well, well, well, look at that." Isabelle hummed, crossing her arms over her chest next to Bella. They moved down the lunch line and she huffed as Bella ignored her, grabbing a pudding cup and placing it on her tray. "Casper's ditching you for a vamp."

The brunette's head whipped up and around, her eyes flickering over to glare at the last place she has seen the Witch. They narrowed even more at the empty space before catching the long, white locks cascading down the girl's back as she and the smallest Cullen slipped out the doors of the cafeteria. Her grip on the tray tightened as she clenched her jaw, taking a step forward to follow them.

"Hey, you still have to pay for that, miss." A nasally voice snapped from behind the cash register a few feet further up the line.

She paused, watching the cafeteria doors swing closed again, and looked over her shoulder to glower at the lunch lady who flinched back. Isabelle threw her head back and laughed, "Well aren't you a ball of sunshine."

Bella turned her glare on the Wolf, though it didn't have quite the same affect as it did on the lunch lady. In fact, it didn't have an affect at all. She jerked back over to the buffet and tossed down her tray, making a few people jump and look at her like she was crazy. She glared one last time at the lunch lady before quickly making her way across the cafeteria and to the doors, stepping outside and whipping her head back and forth, trying to spot Eve.

"Just what do you think you're going to do when you find them?" Isabelle asked, following less enthusiastically behind the brunette as she stalked around the side of the building towards the other ones. "In fact, what do you think _they're_ doing?"

"She's being a foolish girl and wandering off with a vampire, that's what." Bella huffed to herself. She glanced over at the parking lot and the math, science, and english buildings clumped together, trying to decide which direction to take. "And when I find her, I'm going to drag her back to the mansion and home school her."

Isabelle snorted. "You're such a terrific mom, Bella."

"Don't start with me, Belle, you know how dangerous vampires are. I don't care how cute they look." She shot back, glaring over her shoulder before deciding to storm off in the direction of the buildings.

The Wolf raised an eyebrow, her yellow eyes dancing with excitement. "I'm sorry, did you just say cute?" She barked out another laugh. "Bella Swan thinks the _female vampire_ is cute?"

"Would you just shut up for once and help me find Eve?" Bella sighed deeply, yanking the aviators off her head and shoving them into her messenger bag to run her hands through her hair.

"Help you? Where's the fun in that?" She grinned wolfishly, skipping beside the rather grumpy girl. "So, are you going to _wrestle_ this vampire away from dear little Eve?"

The two froze, cocking their heads to the side to listen to a light, tinkling laughter around the corner of the Art building. Bella crept over to the side of the building, pressing her back against the cold bricks. She didn't risk getting any closer, knowing that the vampire would hear her heart beat or breathing, if she hadn't already. She strained her ears to pick up the conversation, glaring at the Wolf who casually strolled to the corner of the building, peeking around the corner. "So, Eve, you said that you and your sister lived in England before here?"

Bella tensed, unconsciously stepping closer. Eve hummed and shifted around, pulling her coat tighter around herself by the sound of it. "Yes, actually, Manchester to be more specific." She agreed.

"I noticed you don't have an accent, though, and Jazz says that, if anything, your sister has a faint Italian accent." The smallest Cullen, Alice, chimed out curiously.

There was a small chuckle. "Yeah, I actually only arrived in England four years ago, I lived in Russia before that, Canada before that, and here in America before _that_. I've been moving all my life with my cov-…family."

"I know what you mean. I've been moving around as far back as I can remember, never really staying in one place for very long." Alice replied, oblivious to the fact that both of the other girls could accurately guess the reason why. "How long have you lived with Bella?"

Again, the girl tensed at her name, but this time really didn't know why. She just felt…funny now, for some reason. "Only four years, I joined her shortly after moving to Manchester."

"Do you get along with her parents?" Alice paused. "Or, does she get along with your parents? I'm sorry, I don't know who joined who's family."

There was some hesitation this time when Eve answered her. "Bella doesn't…have parents anymore, and I never actually knew my own. The rest of my extended family doesn't like her, but that doesn't really matter because I left them to join _her,_ she didn't join us."

"So, wait, you and Bella live alone?"

"Yeah,"

"Without parents?"

"Yup," Eve replied, popping the 'P'. "Bella's nineteen, legally allowed to be one her own, and freaking loaded. We don't struggle to get by, so you don't need to worry."

"Yes, but you're only sixteen-seventeen. You should have a stable home life right now while you complete school and develop yourself." The concern was clear in her voice, surprising both Eve and Bella as the two furrowed their brows in confusion.

Eve's voice was protective and proud as she answered the vampire. "Bella _is_ stable. She takes care of me like I'm one of her own; she always puts me before herself, and is there for me whenever I call. I need her as much as she needs me, and without her I wouldn't be the person I am today. I'd be just like _them_; bitter, cynical, cruel people who can only think of themselves and will use people over and over and over until there's nothing left." She paused, taking a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Sorry, that's…it's a touchy subject. Just-just don't worry about it; Bella is the best thing out there for me, and you couldn't ask for a better family than her."

"I'm glad you have her, then." Alice said softly.

Smiling a warm, loving smile, Bella straightened back out and silently ducked back around the front of the building, heading towards the cafeteria again. She didn't know what these vampires were playing at, but she knew that at school, at least, they were safe.

_~CV~_

This was, again, yet another very _valid_ reason why she shouldn't be going to school.

She had been fearing _this_ very class when she signed up with Eve, and was lucky enough that she only had to take it every other day. That was still one too many days, though, and one big risk.

Why couldn't gym be optional? Why did they have to make it mandatory? Why did everyone have to get _so_ lazy that they even _decided_ to make it mandatory?

Bella hated people even more than she normally did right then.

Coach Clap yelling at her to 'speed it up' and 'quit half-assing it out there' was definitely not helping. Now, on top of it all, she also had to worry about controlling her emotions and not getting absolutely furious at the man and lose control over herself.

This was just tempting Fate.

No, this was yanking your pants down around your ankles and _mooning_ Fate.

"Come on, Bella, just eleven more pushups. It's not that bad." Angela said encouragingly as she pushed off the ground beside the struggling Werewolf, lowering herself an inch away from the ground again.

On her other side, Ben laughed to himself, the noise slightly bitter and breathless. "Not that bad? Look at her, she's barely broken a sweat. You're just _trying_ to piss off the coach, aren't you?" He asked, curious. It was obvious to him and every student, and evidently the coach, that while this girl may not be an _athlete_, she was definitely fit.

Growling quietly to herself as she held her weight on her toes and palms, Bella glanced back down at her watch for the hundredth time that class. It wasn't exactly a watch, really, so much as a pulse and heart monitor. The thing would let out a shrill, alarming beeping if her pulse quickened too much and her heart really jumpstarted into gear. That adrenaline would trigger _something_ in her and she'd snap, fading away as Isabelle and the Wolf took over, so she had gotten the watch to monitor herself and keep herself in check.

She had actually gotten the idea after watching one of the Hulk movies. As fictional as that was, it was pretty accurate to her own situation.

Biting her lip, Bella ignored the Coach yelling at her as she flopped to the cold gym floor, the numbers getting a little too high for her to be comfortable with. "I can't," She sighed, closing her eyes and concentrating on her breathing, hoping to slow her heart rate down quickly.

_One hundred, ninety nine, ninety eight, ninety seven…_

She continued to count backwards in her head as Angela and Ben finished up their workout, flinching at the Coach's volume as he stood over them, barking at the brunette laying on the ground. She blocked out most of his rant, opening her eyes a few times to look at the watch, and finally sat up when the others finished. The gym was silent as the Coach glared down at her with a red face, everyone staring at her in disbelief.

"Are you looking to fail or something, Swan?" He growled at her.

She never understood why Coaches and gym teachers called people by their last names. "No, sir." She replied calmly.

"Then the next time I tell you to keep going, you'll keep going." He yelled at her.

"With all due respect, sir, I know my own limitations." She told him, her tone soft but her eyes hard.

He smirked down at her, puffing out his chest in a challenge. "And if you don't push those limitations, you'll never grow, you'll never become better, you'll always stay the same." The two stared at each other and though both he and Bella knew he won, she never wavered and continued to stare up at him with those hard eyes. Finally he shifted and looked away nervously, clearing his throat. "Hit the lockers."

_~CV~_

"Very nice, very nice," Miss Lebrun murmured as she went around the art room, looking over everyone as they furiously worked on their projects. She paused, tapping a student's shoulder to gain their attention. "Less pressure and smoother strokes, honey." She smiled encouragingly.

Alice tried concentrating on her own project, lazily sketching this and that in her notebooks. She kept sneaking glances at Eve from the corner of her eye, watching the younger girl hunch over her own paper, working hard. She took a discrete, deep breath, letting it out quickly.

The sense of smell was the weakest sense, she knew this. She also knew that the longer you were in contact with a scent, the fainter it became as you grew used to it.

_This_ though… this was just weird. When they were outside during lunch, the scent had grown faint, but that was normal; the wind would carry it away and the fresh air would water it down. She had figured, however, that it would strengthen once again in the closed off classroom, sitting right next to her.

So far, it hadn't. It had actually gotten even weaker. Alice could barely smell it anymore.

"Is something wrong, Alice?" Eve whispered, leaning over so she wouldn't get caught.

Pressing her lips into a firm line, Alice quickly spun to face Eve and leaned in close, playing it off as accidental as she giggled sheepishly. She took another deep breath before moving back to a less intrusive position. Her eyes widened as she let the scent fill her lungs before letting it out again quickly, feeling her throat throb with a burn. She swallowed down the venom pooling in her mouth, wincing at the stinging in her neck, and nodded. "I'm fine." She said tersely. That was… _not_ the scent from before. This was…was…

An almost minty lilacs smell. Definitely delicious, but in more of a set-fire-to-your-throat-until-you-hunt kind of way.

Eve nodded, concern in her face. "Okay," She agreed reluctantly, getting back to her project.

Alice wasn't sure if she was relieved or utterly heart broken again as she realized something _very_ important.

Eve was not her mate.

_~CV~_

Kids poured out of the school buildings, excited for the end of the day as they rushed to their cars. Eve followed Alice through the halls as she easily navigated her way to the parking lot as well, even through the sea of students. Very much like Bella, all the humans subconsciously went out of their way to keep their distance from Alice, and almost parted to make a path for her. Eve bit her lip in concentration as she tried to stay close enough to Alice's back that she wouldn't be swallowed up by all the kids as they closed in again once the pixie passed, but not close enough to bump into her or make Alice uncomfortable.

"Watch it!" A high pitched voice screeched, knocking into the Witch before elbowing her way through the crowd of kids.

Watching her books tumble to the floor, Eve groaned and hesitantly crouched down to start collecting them again. She prayed no one stepped on her as she collected loose papers from under people's feet and shoved them into her binder. What a cliche. Did this _honestly_ happen in real life all the time? Were people _actually_ rude enough to make you drop your books and then continue on their way as if it was _your_ fault? Eve fleetingly wondered if it was Lauren or Jessica who made her drop her things, not surprised if it was.

Ducking down, Alice quickly helped Eve collect her things. She caught the younger girl's eye and rolled her own, picking up a few pens and pencils. "Obviously we're not taking this route again tomorrow." She giggled.

Eve shook her head with a smirk. "This is the fastest way, though. I'll just have to practice my Falcon Death Grip." She said, squeezing her books closer to her chest to demonstrate.

Alice giggled again, grabbing the last pen and book, helping her stack them together in a neat pile. She tensed, glancing up in time to see a rather large boy, completely oblivious, about to step on/trip over poor Eve. Her eyes widened as she opened her mouth and uselessly reached out to the elf, knowing she was already too late.

The boy let out a surprised yelp as someone grabbed his shoulders and jerked him around to the side, shoving him off farther down the hall. He called back a cuss, but Bella ignored him and crouched down beside Eve, placing her hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "You just about got trampled, Eve." She said, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one else was about to walk over them. She grabbed Eve's books for her, straightening back up.

Both Eve and Alice stood up as well, Eve smiling sheepishly while Alice beamed, waiting to introduce herself. "Yeah, some jerk knocked my books out of my hands." Eve said, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Alice watched as the brunette looked concerned and angry at the same time, glaring through the crowds as she tried to spot the unidentified jerk. She was about to open her mouth and put in her two cents when, yet again, that scent hit her like a brick wall. She silently gasped, her eyes widening comically as her mouth fell wide open.

The scent was so much _stronger_ than it had ever been. Fresh, potent, and pulsing out in waves from the tall brunette; so many different wild fragrances blending into an exotic mix, engulfing her, Eve, and the kids around them. She had _never_ come across a scent so strong, filling her up until she was dizzy off of it, making her whole body tingle. She swore she could even feel her heart beating, her eyelashes fluttering as she looked up at Bella, trying desperately not to moan.

As it seemed everyone else was today, the two girls were oblivious as they spoke about Bella meeting Eve and Alice outside the art room at the end of the day to walk them to the cars. Eve eagerly agreed, not wanting to risk becoming someone's shoe mat again, while Alice nodded absently.

"Oh!" Eve gasped, slapping her forehead as the halls cleared out. "I totally forgot; this is Alice," She gestured to the pixie who continued to stare up at Bella in awe. "Alice, this is Bella."

Bella shifted after a moment under the intense gaze the pixie had focused on her. She shoved one hand deep into her pocket with Eve's books tucked under her arm, waving a small, awkward wave with the other before also shoving it into her other pocket. "Um, hi." She murmured again when the vampire didn't respond.

Eve looked between the two, her brows furrowing. She coughed into her hand, waiting for a minute before she did it again and bumped Alice with her hip.

The vampire jumped to life, her face breaking out into a breath taking grin. "Sorry! Got lost there for a minute. Yes, I'm Alice. It's _so nice_ to meet you, Bella." She said, her voice coming out in a purr. Deep, dark brown eyes widened and she laughed nervously, wondering _why_ she just did that, and shook her head, trying to clear it before she accidentally jumped the girl. "Eve here has told me so much about you." She hastily added.

_"Right,"_ Bella drawled the word out as her brows furrowed, shuffling her feet again. She was starting to feel funny, that same…_humming_ in her body again. "It was, uh, nice to meet you, too."

Isabelle was uncharacteristically silent and nowhere to be found as Bella glanced around. Eve watched the exchange curiously until she realized they were the only ones left in the hall. "Well, we should probably get going. I've got a butt-load of chemistry homework I need help with, and Shadow will freak if we don't get you home soon." She said to the brunette. "I'll see you tomorrow, Alice."

The pixie blinked, looking over to Eve and smiled brightly. "Absolutely! Good luck with your work." She turned back to Bella, holding herself back from wrapping her arms around the uncomfortable looking girl. "Again, it was nice meeting you, Bella. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah…" Bella muttered, watching the pixie wink before dancing down the hallway. She waited until she knew the vampire was out of hearing distance before turning to Eve who looked ready to laugh. "What was that?"

Eve hooked her arm with Bella's as they started down the hall. "Two words, Bella," She said. "Incredibly entertaining."

_~CV~_

**Author's Note: **_There you all go. Eve was NOT Alice's mate. Some of you were confused at the end of the last chapter, but I just wanted to show you all that that is how vampires find their mates; by scent. Kind of like Shape Shifters and Imprinting, except instead of at first sight, it's more at first smell, and Werewolves is at first touch, as you will all soon see. Review please, let me know what you think of my story so far, any thoughts you may have, or constructive criticism. _

_Thank you to xPaige Turnerx who helps me write this and puts my thoughts into a smooth, and flowing story line._

_~Velve_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Twilight._

**Rated:**_T._

**Author:**_Crushing Velvet._

**Beta: **_xPaige Turnerx. Whom I'm borrowing Eve from._

**Summary:**_Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Seattle, Washington._

The Cullen manor was rather quiet that evening as most of its occupants retreated to their rooms for the night. There hadn't been much on television, nothing that could capture anyone's interest for more than a few seconds before the channel was switched over and over until everyone had just given up. After an hour or so of reading her magazine and watching her mate play video games with her brother, Rosalie had dragged Emmett up the stairs to their room for some 'real entertainment'.

Jasper's interest in the game lasted for only a few moments after that until he, too, gave up and wandered over to the piano where his own mate was tapping out melodies. Esme had joined Carlisle for a short hunt in the woods; the doctor having multiple surgeries scheduled the next day and though everyone knew there wasn't the smallest chance of a slip up from the Patriarch of the family, he insisted on taking safety precautions even so.

The last Cullen of the family had been up in her room the entire evening before hand, having come home from school bouncing with excitement again and skipped up the stairs to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Quiet music had been playing from behind the door since then as Alice sketched the night away. It wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that she left her room, having filled an entire sketchbook with a pair of deep, dark eyes looking back up at her.

She hadn't been able to get them out of her head since the little run-in back in the hallway at school. They were captivating and had ensnared her, rooting her to the spot with their intensity. She had always firmly believe in the saying 'eyes are the windows to the soul' and found that it was quite easy to read a person through them. That, or the amount of years she had been around people, all her experiences, had made her as good at reading them as Edward could.

These dark brown orbs had not been windows, though. They had been gates with secrets and thoughts and feelings, an entire enigmatic person, locked away behind them.

The pale pixie silently danced down the hallway of the manor, choosing to ignore the sounds coming from Rose and Emmett's room, past the bathroom and hall closet, past her studio, and to her brothers' room. The wooden door disappeared as her eyes lost focus, checking to make sure she wasn't interrupting anything…intimate. With a broad smile, she tapped once on the door before entering and closing it behind her quickly.

Edward was leaning back into the pillows propped up against the headboard, in a pair of pyjama pants, a thick book in his hands that he lowered to his lap. He gave his younger sister a look, raising a brow curiously. It wasn't often she went venturing into their rooms to find other members of the family, no one liked breaching that threshold and invading each others' privacy. Alice, however, did it even less often than the others because of the intimacy and shared bonds the room and atmosphere within represented. It was one of the more glaringly obvious reminders that she had no one to share a room with.

"Alice," He greeted with a warm smile and a nod.

His mate, who had been sitting at the computer on the other side of the room, spun the chair around to give Alice a curious look of his own. He could feel her nervousness seeping into the room, over powering Edward's calm and his own content. He ran a hand through his hair, bringing the wavy blonde locks out of his eyes as he concentrated on the pixie. There were underlying waves of giddiness, excitement, anxiousness, and longing emanating from her as well. "What brings you to our room at such an hour?" He asked, smiling gently.

She pressed her lips into a thin line, her thoughts shifting from English to Latin, and watched as Edward's brows furrowed. It was one of the very few languages he had never learned. She usually only did it around Christmas or his birthday, when she was trying to surprise him, but none of those holidays were even close, and it made him suspicious. She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, Ed; reflex." She winked. This wasn't exactly a secret, per say, but it was…personal, and she'd rather he not hear all her thoughts on it.

He inclined his head with an understanding smile. "Quite alright."

"I'm rather lost here," Jasper murmured, moving from the chair in front of the computer to the end of the bed. He patted the spot next to him and smiled when Alice perched on the edge, bringing her knees up under her chin. "What's happening?"

"I have some news," Alice replied thoughtfully, her mouth quirking up into a smile. "Eve is not my mate."

Jasper sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. "Alice," he began. "I know you've been…disappointed in the outcome of…" He trailed off, unsure how to go about this or what to say. "The scent is right, it doesn't lie and can't be misconstrued, but sometimes when we build things up in our minds, we come to expect too much and the reality doesn't live up to the fantasy. We know you've been searching, waiting, dreaming of this for… _so long_ now, it's only natural that you have great expectations of perfection."

The pixie's brows furrowed as she listened to her brother fumble for words. The boy wasn't very good with them; emotions were his thing. He'd feel a person, read them, and push feelings back and it just…worked. When it came to actually verbalizing interactions, he was… less than experienced. She smiled softly. "No, you don't understand-"

"I do, Alice." He insisted, his amber eyes wide and eager as he fought to blunder his way through helping his sister. "I get it. This was supposed to be your happily ever after, your fairy tale come true, and in theory it's lovely, but in practice things don't usually turn out that way. I mean, I had to endure years of torture under Maria's thumb before I found my mate. My very straight, religious mate who was appalled by me when we first met, and fought tooth and nail until he accepted that we were meant for each other."

Edward ducked his head, some of the age old guilt returning. He still couldn't believe how… blind he had been back then. There was nothing else in the world he regretted more than not just accepting Jasper's words when they first met.

"Love," He called gently, gaining Jasper's attention. "Normally I would agree with you, this _is_ your forte, but I think Alice is right." Though he had fought tooth and nail and refused to accept Jasper when they first met, it didn't change the fact that he still _did_ feel the unbelievably strong pull towards him. Now, earlier that day in the cafeteria, Edward had not seen that pull in Alice. Even as he pushed her to try again with Eve, he scoured her mind and found to trace of it, no overwhelming desire to be closer to the elf. In fact, she had only gone over and tried again for _their_ sakes. "I don't believe Eve is her mate."

The blonde deflated, his shoulders sinking as he stared at his mate. A huff escaped his lips. "So that's a no on the united front, then?" Edward blew him a kiss that he caught with an eye-roll. "Right, well then, I'm confused. The scent _doesn't_ lie."

"No, but that doesn't mean it can't trick you," Alice smirked, peaking the boys' interest. "That wasn't the only news I had. Shortly after I realized that Eve was, in fact, _not_ my mate," Her smile widened, the images of dark eyes flickering from Eve and over to her, filling her mind. "I was introduced to my _real_ mate."

The boys hesitated this time, exchanging looks and biting their lips. "Um, are…are you sure this time?" Jasper asked quietly, his eyebrows raising along with his voice at the end.

Alice beamed, her chest feeling full, warm, tight. She couldn't breathe properly and she _loved_ it. "Yes! I'm one hundred percent certain. It's all there, everything's _right_ this time, Jas. I can't stop thinking about her, about her eyes, and I just…" She made an excited noise in the back of her throat, her smiling brightening even more. "I can't _wait_ for school. Only a couple more hours!"

"Another her?" Edward asked, smirking when Alice rolled her eyes at him. "My, my, I think we have another rainbow dancer in the house, Jazzy," He cooed.

He smirked, reaching up to ruffle Alice's hair and ignored her death glare. "Well I think it's adorable, darlin'."

Unable to fight it, Alice grinned. "That's great. I'm so glad you think so, now you can talk me up to her."

His brows furrowed. "Eh?"

Alice nodded furiously, bouncing on the bed. "Yes! You have class with Bella, right? You can talk me up, get a feel for what she thinks of me right now. Maybe ease her into it. Does she even like girls? Oh god, what if she doesn't? What if she doesn't like me, guys?"

Edward couldn't help but chuckle at the horror struck face of his little sister. "What's not to like, you sugar high, diabolical ball of pixieness. And it doesn't matter who she liked before, _trust me_, she'll like you now. You can't fight that, right, Jas?"

Expecting support and cheerful reassurances from his mate, Edward was surprised at the blank look on Jasper's face. The blank look and troubled eyes. "Um…" He trailed off, grimacing as Alice's face fell. He felt Edward kick him from under the blankets, scowling and rubbing his thigh. "Well, what I mean is…uh… Bella is kind of… she sorta…" He knew what he _wanted_ to say but he felt more than ridiculous. _I'm pretty sure she's a robot who can't FEEL emotions._ "This is going to be a little complicated?" He went with instead, an innocent shrug of his shoulders.

Tilting his head, Edward searched through Jasper's mind, slowly losing his excited confidence he had just a moment ago. "Well, maybe she's a little stoic-"

"Stoic?" Jasper asked incredulously. "The girl's made of stone!"

Alice suddenly snapped her fingers, a smile back on her face. "We'll just need some help, then."

"What do you mean?" Edward gave her a curious look.

Slowly, Jasper's face dawned with realization, hitching his eyebrow up. "Eve…?"

_~CV~_

His phone vibrated in the pocket of his jeans for the umpteenth time in just a few minutes. He, Edward, and Alice had met in the hallways just before the first bell rang to 'cement their plan' and for those two to give him final encouraging words. Since then, Alice hadn't stopped texting him, and it had only been a few minutes.

With a sigh, he reached into his pocket and flipped open his phone, rolling his eyes. How he could have mistaken Alice's actions for a newly mated vampire the day before, he wasn't sure.

_Is she there yet? Did you say hi? Are you two talking? Are you talking about me? What are you saying? -A_

Unfortunately for her, or rather fortunately for him, the stoic girl had yet to enter the classroom. His brows furrowed as he glanced up at the clock, noting there were only a few more seconds before the second bell rang and Bella would be late. She didn't really seem the type to be late for things.

"After you, milady."

Jasper looked up towards the door at the front of the classroom, watching as a tall -but surprisingly still shorter than Bella- asian boy bowed frivolously outside the door, one hand on the knob while the other waved to the inside of the classroom. His glasses slid down further on his nose before he wrinkled and twitched it a few times, trying to push them back up without breaking his pose, all while keep his rather frighteningly eager smile on his face.

His golden eyes shifted to the new, curvy figure that appeared in the doorway. Knowing that clothing was usually a person's biggest tell and hoping to get some insight as to just _how_ difficult this entire process of getting his sister and her mate together would be, Jasper scrutinized the girl's attire. Though it was only her third day there, and he didn't see much of her outside this classroom, he began picking up subtle patterns. For example, he noticed that this was the third day she wore more loose fitting and baggier pants, another dark wash denim, and a form fitting shirt, a crisp white button up with an equally tight black vest over top.

Bella's dark eyes narrowed at the boy, a scowl forming on her face as she passed through the doorway. "Don't call me that," She murmured coldly, quickening her pace to her desk.

The boy paused, his heart skipping a beat in his chest as his face paled slightly. "R-right! Sorry!" He scurried to catch up to her, ducking to try and catch her look again. "So, Bella," He laughed nervously, scratching at the back of his neck. "I don't know if you know this, but there's this new movie out in the theatre at Port Angeles. Kinda gory and scary, but I thought maybe it would be less scary if I was there to watch it with you."

Jasper watched Bella stare at the boy as she slowly sat down at her desk next to his. He felt fear spike in the boy again, his nervousness and anxiety pulsing. He wondered briefly if it shouldn't be Rosalie here trying to get closer to the girl so that she may ease Bella into a relationship with Alice more smoothly. So far, those two had more in common, mainly the reaction people had to them.

"O-or not!" The boy said hastily. "Gory movies aren't very fun, now that I think of it. Maybe we could…we could have dinner…or-"

"I don't think so," Though her voice was hard and cold, it wasn't mean like he thought it might be, not like Rosalie's tended to be. "I have plans, Eric."

His shoulders slumped as he deflated, his mouth absently curling down into a frown. It appeared as though someone just kicked his puppy.

Jasper watched her eyes flicker to the side for half a second, hardening. She looked back over to Eric, shifting in her seat as she frowned uncomfortably. "It was…thoughtful of you to think of me, though," She forced out.

Eric beamed again, nodded furiously. "Of course! Well, I guess I should get to my seat. Talk to you later, Bella!" He gushed before prancing off to his own desk across the room.

Bella grumbled to herself as she flipped open her notebook and textbook to the right pages, glaring at the words inside. She could feel the vampire's eyes on her, as were Eric's, and focused on not twitching under their attention.

She felt the vampire lean closer towards her and stared ahead, forcing herself not to lean away. "That was really nice of you to say that. It made him feel better."

The girl grunted in return, looking off and out the window. Who cares if it made him feel better? He'd probably just try again now.

Her mind flashed to breakfast earlier before school and the odd conversation Eve started up about being more social.

_"Why do you insist on scaring people away, Bella?" Eve sighed deeply, poking around at her eggs. She pouted as the Werewolf rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't have to get in bed with them but could you at least be more friendly?"_

_"I don't see the point," Bella argued, sipping her juice. _

_Eve gave her a disbelieving look. "The point? The point, Bella? The point is that you have no friends, you have _no one_ but me and Belle."_

_"I don't need anyone else."_

_The Witch huffed to herself, rolling her eyes. "Bella, you're so alone. You need to change that. What happens when I'm not here anymore? You won't know how to make new friends. I'm not going to be around forever, you know. Unlike you, I age." _

_Those dark eyes glared back at her. "Don't say those kinds of things, Eve. You're only sixteen." _

_"Fine," Eve relented. "But just…try to be nicer to people, for me. I'll feel better knowing you won't someday end up a crazy old dog lady who hermits in her house."_

_"Eve…"_

_"Promise," She insisted. Bella stared at her with hard eyes, but she stared right back. "Promise me, Bella. Promise. Promise, promise, promise, promise, promise-"_

_"Fine, I promise," Bella growled. "Now will you let me eat in peace?"_

"So, Bella," Jasper prodded.

The girl blinked a few times, looking over to the vampire who was smiling feebly. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes?"

He cleared his throat, flashing her a smile as he shifted, trying to find words. "I was just wondering… you wouldn't happen to be seeing anyone as of late, would you?"

Her brows furrowed as she stared back at him, leaning forward to rest her chin in her palm. His smile dimmed and he couldn't help but feeling like she was…studying him. Reading him. Like _she_ were the mind reader, picking his thoughts apart until he made sense to her. It was a feeling he hadn't felt since he first met Edward and the boy wasn't aware how…naked he made people feel. Of course, the mind reader still did it, but he made sure not to _stare_ anymore.

"Why do you wish to know the relationship status of me and Eve?" She asked curiously. He had a mate, he said so. Why on earth was this so important to him? Was this his way of making small talk? Oh god…did he want to make small talk? Would she have to sit here and talk about pointless things for an hour? Maybe…maybe she could ignore him, or tell him it wasn't necessary.

_"Promise me, Bella."_

Stupid promises…

Jasper paused to think about that, wondering what he could say without sounding like he was interested in her. "I'm curious, just trying to get to know my new friend better." He said hopefully.

She pressed her lips into a thin line, her dark eyes searching his brighter ones. "You see us as friends," she inquired.

He hesitated, really considering that. True, it was easier conversing with a sidewalk than Bella, Jasper found that he didn't _not_ enjoy having class with the girl. She was actually rather interesting and different from all the other teenagers at the school, and he _liked_ trying to figure her out. Her difference was…refreshing.

"Yes," he agreed. "I do."

Right. Well…okay. She had a friend other than Eve, now. That was…nice. "I'm not," she finally replied. Jasper gave her a curious look and she waved her hand around. "Seeing anyone, I mean. You asked if I was and I'm not, nor is Eve."

"Oh," He said, a slow smile pulling at his lips. "Not interested in any of the boys around here?"

Bella's lips curled distastefully. "Not particularly, no."

He refrained from saying good, opting to nod instead. Feeling a little more confident now that she wasn't openly ignoring him like most days, Jasper scooted his chair closer to hers. "So, I know you are a fan of cars, but I was wondering if you happened to be a motorcycle enthusiast as well?"

"I have a few bikes, yes," she nodded.

_Two_ things she now had in common with his older sister.

_~CV~_

The Werewolf and the Witch slowly made their way down through the lunch line. Both girls found themselves having particularly interesting days so far, the Cullens they had class with being more social than usual. That, added to the fact that Isabelle was being uncharacteristically quiet that day, put Bella on edge. Matters were only made worse when Eve took the last bundle-of-three chocolate chip cookies.

She even had the audacity to _grin_ up at Bella as she did so!

All in all, the Werewolf was now in a sour, broody mood. She huffed the rest of the way through the line, grumbling and glaring at her friend the entire way until they made it to their own table. She set her messenger bag down, glaring at the cookies on Eve's tray, and slowly sat in her chair.

Eve was chattering on and on about the new zombie movie out in theatres and begging Bella to take her later on in the evening. As always, she was giggling and waving her hands around as she explained the movie, perching on her own chair, her eyes wide and excited. The girl was a very animated talker. Bella admitted that sometimes it was a little much, and such excited energy wasn't always easy to appreciate all the time, but it didn't excuse what she heard next.

"-so annoying, what an _attention whore_, right?" Lauren's nasally voice raised purposefully so her words were carried over to them a few tables away.

_Nothing_ excused _anyone_ talking to or about Eve like that.

The Witch froze, only registering the rather loud volume at first, her head tilting to the side curiously. Realization slowly filled her eyes until she was blushing a light shade of pink, lowering down to sit in her chair properly. She blinked hard a few times, embarrassed tears stinging her eyes when she felt everyone staring at her, and nervously fiddled with the plastic fork on her tray. She wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole so she could hide from all the attention.

Bella's fists clenched, her nails digging into her palms, her brown eyes hardening into steel as she looked past Eve and to the blondes at the popular table. She jerked to her feet in a fast, sudden motion, watching Lauren and Jessica jump, both of them raising hands to their hearts.

Frightened and even more embarrassed, Eve's hand shot out and wrapped around Bella's wrist. "No, please!" She gasped, her eyes widening farther as she felt the older girl's pulse hammering in her veins. "Bella, calm down. Look at me," she begged, tugging on the wrist.

Lauren scoffed, though she could feel her own heart pounding painfully in her chest. Was the new girl actually going to _attack_ her?

The brunette sneered, glaring fiercely. Jessica whipped her head down, staring at the table in front of her to get away from the look, her face pale.

"Bella, stay," Even demanded, her grip tightening as the older girl inched forward.

She looked down at Eve, trying to make the younger girl understand with her eyes. "But…" _No one_ had the right to treat her friend like that. She had to make sure everyone knew that.

"Stay," Eve reiterated firmly.

Bella tossed one last glare at Lauren before sighing and looking back down at Eve, nodding.

The Witch let out a relieved breath she'd been holding. "Thank you. Now sit, here, you can even have a cookie." She said quietly as everyone got back to their own thing. She placed a chocolate chip cookie on Bella's tray.

The Werewolf grudgingly started eating her lunch, her hard eyes flickering back and forth from Eve to Lauren. She paused, however, when she noticed the tiny little smirk in the corner of her friend's mouth. "What?"

Eve hesitated, looking up at Bella. "Nothing…" She trailed off, leaning over to pat Bella's head. "You're just such a good girl. Yes you are."

Bella's eyes widened in astonishment. "Uh!"

_~CV~_

"That was such an awesome movie! Didn't you think it was awesome? Did you see the way that guy just sliced that zombie's head off? Just one smooth flick of his wrist and _pop_, off it went!"

The brunette shook her head at Eve's excited antics, smiling softly. She was such a little child sometimes.

"You know what? We should have a zombie movie marathon this weekend!" Her eyes lit up. "We could even invite Alice and Jasper! That would be too funny, watching zombies with a pair of vampires! Oh man, they'd get a hoot out of it, thinking of their little inside joke, totally unaware that _we're_ in on it too! We should totally do that and - oh, I gotta go to the washroom!"

Rolling her eyes, Bella grabbed the bucket of half eaten popcorn from Eve. She never liked wasting it and always brought what she couldn't finish home for a snack later on. "Alright, you go on and I'll go pull up the car."

"Sure!" She chirped, grinning before skipping off back into the movie theatre.

Bella sighed, taking a deep breath of the cold night air. She started down the sidewalk while going over the movie in her head again. Some parts were…less than realistic. Honestly, a flick of the wrist _wasn't_ going to decapitate someone, not unless their head was already only hanging on by a thread. She was also fairly certain that limping around and acting like another zombie wouldn't fool them. Yeah, they were dumb, but they couldn't _smell_ the fresh blood pumping under their skin?

She had to admit though, some of those moves and ideas the main character had were clever, and she _was_ smart enough to lead the survivors to safety.

Bella decided that the movie wasn't too bad, though she wouldn't call it a favourite. She'd recommend it to someone looking to kill time.

The keys jingled in her pocket and she set the bucket of popcorn on the hood of her car while she went to unlock it, only to jump as she came face to face with a stranger.

A very large, grizzly looking stranger.

"Hello there, girly," A voice over the stranger's shoulders cackled.

Ah, a very large, grizzly stranger who had _friends_. Joy.

Bella looked up into the man's green eyes, ignoring the food in his beard. "Is there…something I can do for you gentlemen?" She asked cautiously, taking a small step backwards. Of course this end of the parking lot had to be empty now.

"I'm _sure_ theres something you can do for _all_ of us, a pretty little thing like you," His gruff voice stank of alcohol.

Her back stiffened and she squared her shoulders. "Money, perhaps? You require some financial aid?" She asked, already reaching into her pocket.

A thick, beefy hand shot out and grabbed her arm, squeezing tight. The man's lips curled up into a smirk. "We won't be needing any cash tonight, sweets. I was thinking more along the lines of _entertainment._"

"I'm afraid I can't help you there, if you'd kindly let go of my-" She was cut off mid sentence and gasped as his other hand reached out, her free hand coming up to the side of her now throbbing face. She blinked a few times, trying to focus as the men laughed around her. How'd one of them get behind her without her noticing? She focused her glare on two of them, wrenching her arm out of the first's grip and backed up into her car. "Leave me alone."

"Aw, don't pout, pretty thing." One of the men said, reaching out to touch her hair.

She slapped his hand away, glaring fiercely at him. "Don't touch me."

Bella cried out at the sharp pain in her back and shoulders, those beefy hands from before roughly shoving her against her car. "Now that wasn't very nice," He taunted. "We're all friends here, right? We just want…what's that?"

He reached down for her beeping wrist, yanking it up in front of his face. The beeping increased in speed and volume at the action and he grinned. Bella looked at the high numbers, shaking her head. "No! No, please let go. Just… just leave, please."

"What's that toy, boss?" One of the others asked, trying to look over his shoulder.

Grimacing at the sudden wave of dizziness, Bella feebly tried pulling her wrist from his hand again. "You need to leave _now_. You're in danger," She warned them. Her body felt weak, heavy, and it was taking everything she had just to stay on her feet.

She was going to pass out soon.

The man ripped the watch from her wrist, tossing it to one of the others. "Fun little gizmo you've got there, pretty thing. Any other hidden beepers on you?" His green eyes raked over her hungrily.

She lazily shook her head, trying to focus her thoughts. "No…you…" She took a deep breath, trying to push him away. She needed distance. She needed a pause, a break. Just one _second_ to regain control. "_Move_," She snarled, roughly shoving him.

His face suddenly contorted into rage, like he couldn't believe _she_ just assaulted _him_. "I don't think so," He growled, grabbing a fist full of that brown hair and yanking her up close to glare into her face. "We're not done with you. Not even close."

Black numbness was upon her and Bella struggled for one last try. "You need to _run_."

"Shut up," He spat, viscously throwing her to the cement ground.

The four men stared at the girl crumpled up on the ground, snickering to each other. One of them punched the other in the shoulder with a grin. "Ya think she's out? Kinda a rough landin' 'n all."

The first grunted, spitting on the ground next to his feet. "She better not be, I still want my fun and this bitch seems like a squirmer."

The pale girl's shoulders started to shake, slowly at first until it seemed uncontrollable. They could hear something, too, a noise coming from her, and leaned in close. They playfully nudged each other, mimicking crying motions and faces, thoroughly enjoying the sobbing coming from her.

Sometimes this was just too easy.

"Wait," One of them paused, shushing the others. "That ain't cryin', boss."

And it seemed he was right as they all quieted down, letting the noise get louder and louder. Their brows furrowed. Was this girl…was she _laughing_?

It was unmistakable, though. That was definitely laughter. _Mocking_, cackling, laughter.

They watched as the girl slowly pushed herself to her feet, dusting off her elbows and knees. She was still chuckling to herself as she fixed her hair, tucking a lock behind her ear. "You boys should have listened to her," she grinned. The moonlight reflected off of rather _long_ looking canines. "Because I'm far more fun but you will like me _much less_."

"I think the crazy bitch has, like, split personality or somethin'."

The girl chuckled again, looking up at them and the four took a step backwards. What was wrong with her eyes? They were _glowing_ and…and where were the whites? The smallest man gulped, shaking as he realized they were looking to the eyes of an _animal_. The girl straightened her coat, clearing her throat. "A very old and _severe_ case, you might say."

The first grunted, rolling his shoulders. "Freak eyes or not; you're _mine_."

Isabelle sighed, rolling her eyes to herself as he stalked forward. Quick as a flash, she reached out and grabbed his face, yanking him forward and smashed the back of his head on the hood of the car parked next to the Camaro.

The other three looked at each other, then their leader, and back to the girl before dashing over the car and away from her. One of them gasped, the other skidding to a stop and falling backwards, the third gaping at the girl who'd just been behind them a second ago, now standing in front of them. She grinned wolfishly, hands on her hips and her glowing eyes dancing. "Now where do you think you're off to? The fun's just getting started."

…

Eve pulled her coat tighter around herself as she stalked down the sidewalk. What on earth was taking Bella so long? She'd been waiting at the theatre doors for almost ten minutes now, waiting for her friend. Bella wasn't the tardy type, so this was unusual.

_She better not have locked the keys inside the car again_, she grumbled to herself. The last time that happened they were stuck downtown for half an hour waiting for a tow truck to take them and the car home.

A blood curling scream shattered the quiet of the night and Eve jumped, yelping. She grabbed her chest, her heart pounding against her rib cage, and looked around, half expecting to see someone bleeding out in the street.

"Bella…" Dread pooled in her gut and she quickened her pace into jog and then run, sprinting down the sidewalk to the parking lot.

She rounded the corner, racing off through the parking lot and to the corner they had been forced to park in earlier when the place was packed. "No…no, no, no." She grabbed the bucket of popcorn, looking up and around for Bella, and tossed it to the ground when she saw the keys in the car door. "Bella," She whimpered, straining her eyes to search the dark parking lot again.

"Oh!" She jerked forward, catching herself on the side of the car and looked down to see what had tripped her. Her brows furrowed as she picked up the large shoe, opening the car door for the light to inspect it. She quickly dropped it again, staring in disgust at the warm, crimson liquid on her hand now.

_Blood…_

She sighed deeply, reaching over to the glove box and grabbed a napkin to wipe her hand. "Belle," she murmured quietly, shaking her head. She didn't know whether to be relieved or be even more worried now.

_At least Bella's safe._

Eve grabbed a few more napkins, reaching down to pick up the bloody shoe and placed it in the now empty popcorn bucket. She placed the bucket on the passenger seat, starting the car up to head home. Of course, now with a small pit stop at the gas station for matches and some gasoline.

"Bella's going to be so upset,"

_~CV~_

**Author's Note:** _Not a lot of Bellice in this chapter, or at all yet, but we're getting there. Not much else to say other than I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and a big thanks to my beta/co-writer xPaige Turnerx._

_~Velve_


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Twilight or anything familiar._

**Rated:**_T._

**Author:**_Crushing Velvet._

**Summary: **_Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Seattle, Washington._

"Ooh, what's this? It's shiny, it's almost hidden away, it's…a booby-trap. Great. And now I'm dead. Awesome," Eve huffed, tossing her controller onto the coffee table in front of her, looking at the loading screen of her game. Her eyes traveled to Bella's lounger on the other side of the room, and the wolf curled up in it, staring at her with those bright eyes. She glared. "Oh what do you know, Katerina. It was _shiny_. Like _you_ wouldn't have grabbed it," she scoffed.

The wolf sighed quietly to herself, closing her eyes and laying her chin on the arm of the lounger.

"Same to you," Eve grumbled, looking to the grandfather clock across the room. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning and Bella hadn't even called yet.

Just as she was about to call the girl's cell phone, _again_, she heard the front door swing open with a bang, following by giggling, shouting, and…dancing? She looked up to the entrance of the living room and the hallway outside it, her eyes widening at the sight of three _strangers_ dancing down the hallway and disappearing around the corner. She shook her head, looking over to Katerina who was growling lightly in her chest, Bandit and Butch both looking up from the floor around Eve's feet. She wondered about the others briefly, but knew they wouldn't attack, not when she wasn't freaking out and not without an order from Bella.

Slowly, she got to her feet, uncertain what to do about these humans just _traipsing_ through her home. What…just _what_? She didn't understand.

Or rather, didn't until _Belle_ walked into the living room.

Eve's shoulders slumped as a scowl twisted her features, her arms crossing over her chest. "Of course," She muttered. "I don't know why I didn't think of you first."

"Hey there, Q-Tip," Isabelle sang in her accented voice, grinning wolfishly. She tossed a large brown paper bag onto the coffee table, next to the controller and Eve's bowl of popcorn, the Witch jumping back in disgust at the crimson stains at the bottom, seeping out onto the table. She gave the Wolf a horrified look, to which she received an indifferent shrug. "Laundry. Those boys were…" Her grin turned into a smirk. "_Disordinato_."

Eve looked from the bag, picturing what she last saw Bella in, and then to Isabelle, noting the differences. Expensive looking shoes and slacks, silk blouse and tie, a leather vest, everything hugging her curves in the right way, topped off with her trademark shades, hiding the piercing yellow eyes of the Wolf. The piercings were missing as well. The Witch sighed, holding her forehead in her hand and she sorted through everything. "You hurt some men?"

Isabelle crossed her arm over her chest, her other hand coming up to tap her chin. "I had _fun_ with them," She corrected. "They _were_ looking for some entertainment, told Bella that themselves. I indulged them. Then one of them had to start crying and it totally ruined the mood, so we decided to call it a night."

"Are they alive?" Eve asked blatantly, looking back at the bag and feeling her fingers shake. That was _a lot_ of blood.

The Wolf sighed, rolling her eyes even though the action would be lost on Eve who couldn't see them, leaning back against the entrance frame. "So _I_ called it a night, they called it death. Big deal."

"Big deal," The younger girl laughed hysterically. She covered her mouth, taking a deep breath.

_Okay, okay, we're okay…isn't the first time Belle's killed someone… Bella usually deals with it, but so what, it's your turn now. Okay._

"And the bodies?" She asked hesitantly.

Isabelle groaned childishly. "You're being so _lame_, Whiteout. I took care of it, stop stressing out, this isn't my first time." She said, pausing as her lips quirked up again. "Nor will it be my last."

"Bella's going to be so upset with you." Eve said, slowly sitting back down.

She took care of it. Okay. Less work for Bella and Eve in the morning. Minimal to no work, really. They'd just have to keep an eye out in the papers and see the ramifications of this.

The brunette snorted, walking into the room and sitting on the arm of the couch. Bandit growled lowly, Butch's ears pinned back again his head as he barred his teeth. Belle flashed her own matching ones, snapping her jaw at them with a ferocious snarl that shook the room. The two lowered their heads and she chuckled, shaking her head. "Big dog's in the _house_, boys. Fall in or fall out, but if you growl at me again we're going to have some problems."

Eve grabbed her controller again, going back to her game. "What's with the strangers using our house as a dance stage?"

Tilting her head to the side, Isabelle smiled brightly. "I'd say they're using our house as more of an orgy palace."

The controller slipped from Eve's fingers, landing on Butch and making him jump. "Sorry! Sorry, Butch. Sorry." She quickly grabbed it again, looking up at the Wolf briefly before blushing darkly and glancing away again. "O…kay. That's…raunchy. _Why_ exactly?"

"Well, when a horny human is attracted to another horny human, sometimes they-"

"No! No. No, no. I mean why _here_?" Eve shouted, shaking her head furiously. She really, _really_, didn't want to hear Belle's version of 'when a mommy and a daddy love each other'. Goodness, no. _That_ would probably end in bloodshed, too.

The Wolf shrugged a shoulder, paying more attention to the game than to the girl herself. "I told them to start without me, I wanted to spend some quality time with my _strega fastidioso._" (1)

"Goody for me," The girl muttered sarcastically.

Isabelle harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest as she strutted back to the entrance of the living room. "Well if you're going to be like that…" She lifted her chin in the air. "I just thought you'd like to know that leeches are spying on us."

"Yeah, yeah, have fun with your orgy-what?" Eve's head whipped up, her light eyes wide. "Did you just… leeches are…you said…spying on us? Why? How? When? _Now?_" She asked, her voice lowering to a whisper as she shrunk in on herself, looking around conspiratorially.

"No, not now. The scents are faint, but they're all along the gate around our land, and at the tree line behind the back yard," She replied. Her voice was calm, as always, even a little teasing, which was actually a little comforting to Eve. She knew there was no real danger or threat, not immediately at least, if Belle wasn't freaking out.

Then again, Belle wasn't known for freaking out about _anything_.

Actually, immediate threat or danger would probably just _excite_ her.

"Why though?" She asked, furrowing her brows. Why were these vampires taking such an interest in her and Bella? Did they know that the girls knew about them? Did they know about the _girls_?

Isabelle shrugged her shoulders again, slipping her hands into her pockets. "I know I'm _fantastico_, but I really _don't_ know _everything_, despite what you two believe. I don't know the bloodsuckers' intentions. Curiosity, perhaps? New people in their territory, coming to check and see? Old lady coloured hair on a young teenager does raise _some_ eyebrows, you know." Eve scowled. "Maybe they smell me on Bella. Maybe they smell you."

"What should we do?" Eve asked, biting her lip nervously as she moved to look out one of the enormous windows, pulling the heavy curtains back a crack to peek out of. She couldn't see much, only darkness, and the moonlight reflecting off of the wet iron gate. There was no movement though.

Grabbing the bowl full of popcorn from the coffee table, and a few CDs from the stand next to the speakers and stereo above the TV, Belle spun over to the entrance again. "What we always do," she sang with a grin. "Boink like bunnies until our illustrious leader returns and broods the danger away."

Eve watched the Wolf stalk out of the room soundlessly, rolling her eyes as she reached for the remote, turning her game's volume up louder. "As _tempting_ as that sounds, I think I'll pass."

She shot one last look to the large windows before sinking down onto the couch once more, immersing herself into her game again.

_~CV~_

The first thing Bella noticed when she woke up, was that it was rather chilly that morning.

Her brows furrowed when she opened her eyes, the ceiling of her room looking foreign and…dark. Why was it so dark? It couldn't have still been night outside, she felt like she had been sleeping for _days_, in fact, she _still_ felt tired. Tired and worn out.

Slowly, her hand rose up to her face, her fingertips touching the plastic covering her eyes.

She was even more confused as she pulled dark sunglasses off her face, blinking against the now brighter ceiling.

A ceiling that still wasn't hers.

"Mmm, it's so cold today." A groggy voice said, somewhere off to the side of Bella.

Dark brown eyes widened, almost comically so, as Bella froze. Every muscle in her body seized up, locking into place as she finally, _finally_, felt a presence other than herself in the room. The room that was not hers.

Another voice grunted on the other side of her.

_Two_ presences, other than her own, in a foreign room.

Much too close for comfort.

Those dark eyes flickered down and her heart caught in her throat, almost making her choke. Would have, if her body wasn't _completely_ locked down.

Bella suddenly realized why it was so chilly.

She wasn't wearing any clothes.

Utterly bare, covered only by the thin, violet silk sheet tangled in her legs. Her legs, and three other pairs.

_Three!_

She was in bed with _three_ different strangers, naked, as she assumed they were as well. All in a room that she hadn't seen before, or that she…didn't really…remember…did she? It was kind of familiar. At least, the ceiling was, as it had been the only thing, other than the sheet, that she had seen.

"Relax, hun, you're so rigid," One of the voices murmured, accompanied by a hand caressing her shoulder.

As soon as there was skin to skin contact, Bella was up and out of the bed, as if electrocuted by the touch.

Touch.

Someone had _touched_ her.

Someone was _in her space_, was _in her house_, and was _touching her_, and she just would not have it.

People don't just _touch_ her. She didn't let them.

Certainly not when she's _naked._

Bella glared coldly, her pale hand holding the violet sheet up against her chest as she backed into a corner. Her other hand shot up, covering her eyes from the nakedness that attacked her visually. She continued to back up until the cool wall touched her skin, making her shiver and step forward half an inch.

"What's wrong, hun?"

"Don't call me that," She shot back, her voice quiet and rough.

_Husky._

Great.

She cleared her throat, speaking louder. "What are… who are you?"

"Ugh, I'm up! Stop shaking me, what do you…what's going on? Why're you freaking out, love?"

"She had a little too much to drink last night, I guess, can't remember much."

"You found us at the bar, we had a good time, and you wanted to continue the party back here, hun-"

"_Don't_ call me that," Bella reiterated firmly, shaking her head. "Please get dressed and out of my house." Keeping her eyes closed, Bella blindly searched for a door, opening it up and tumbling out into a hallway.

She wrapped the silk sheet around herself, and reached back with her free hand, slamming the door closed behind her.

When she opened her eyes, they narrowed back into slits, glaring fiercely at the door.

Belle's door, to Belle's room.

"Of course," She sighed deeply, turning and heading down the hallway and to the staircase. She heard commotion downstairs, in the kitchen, and made her way to it, stepping around the corner and into the room.

Eve was perched on one of the counters, swinging her legs back and forth as she spooned cereal into her mouth. The TV on the island was on, cartoons of some such playing, while bread baked in the toaster. The second Bella stepped into the room, Katerina, Rupert, and Shadow were there, crowding her legs. She reached down with her free hand, scratching behind each of their ears as she stared at the elf eating breakfast.

A light eyebrow arched and Eve looked up, a smile breaking out on her face. "Ah, you're back."

Bella numbly walked closer to the Witch. "I… I can still walk and move, I'm not sore or starving, so she didn't Change, but…I can't remember… she must have slipped in somehow. What-"

"-happened?" Eve finished for her. She knew that she didn't really have to talk about this morning, or the strangers she woke up with - that wasn't the first time it had happened before. She knew that she _did_ have to talk about _why_ Belle slipped in. Which she didn't really know. "Um, well… we went to see a movie last night, remember?"

_"That was such an awesome movie! Didn't you think it was awesome? Did you see the way that guy just sliced that zombie's head off? Just one smooth flick of his wrist and _pop_, off it went!"_

The brunette nodded slowly. She _did_ remember going to the movies, Eve had wanted to see some new zombie one and had managed to convince Bella to take her. "Yes, I remember that."

Eve bit her lip. "We were leaving, but I had to use the washroom. You said you'd bring the car around."

_Rolling her eyes, Bella grabbed the bucket of half eaten popcorn from Eve. She never liked wasting it and always brought home what she couldn't finish, for a snack later on. "Alright, you go on and I'll go pull up the car."_

"After that, I waited by the entrance of the movie theatre for a few minutes. When it was clear you were taking too long, I went to go get you." She paused. "Right before I got to the parking lot, there was a scream. A really bad scream. Kind of like the ones in the movie." She set her empty bowl down in the sink next to her. "I ran off to find you, but instead I found the keys in the door and a bloody shoe on the ground. A large man's bloody shoe."

Bella shook her head, searching her memories, replaying the events from the moment she stepped into the movie theatres, and the moments she stepped back out. "I don't remember… you found keys in the-"

_The keys jingled in her pocket and she set the bucket of popcorn on the hood of her car while she went to unlock it, only to jump as she came face to face with a stranger._

"…door…" She blinked a few times at the memories resurfacing.

_A thick, beefy hand shot out and grabbed her arm, squeezing tight. The man's lips curled up into a smirk. "We won't be needing any cash tonight, sweets. I was thinking more along the lines of _entertainment_."_

Her hand reached up to cover her eyes again, this time out of shame and regret. She sighed deeply, falling into a chair by the kitchen table. "I told those bastards to run," She muttered.

_Grimacing at the sudden wave of dizziness, Bella feebly tried pulling her wrist from his hand again. "You need to leave _now_. You're in danger," She warned them. Her body felt weak, heavy, and it was taking everything she had just to stay on her feet._

"Why do humans have to be so _dense_?" She snapped, glaring off to the side. "I told them. I _told_ them, and all they did was continue to push me around. Why weren't they listening to their instincts? Humans _have_ instincts, I remember mine! They told me to run, and I ran -granted, I was still caught- but at least I ran! There was hope. There was a chance. Why wouldn't these men take the chance while they had it? _Damn it!_" She yelled, jerking to her feet and flipping the kitchen table onto its side.

Eve watched the metaphorical dark cloud over her friend darken and grow, lightning crackling through it ominously.

"Now they're _dead_ because they were too stupid to listen, too full of their macho bravado selves," She growled. "Because they're _men_ and women can't tell them what to do." Her shoulders slumped, a shadow falling over those dark eyes of hers as she turned her face, unable to meet Eve's eyes. "Because I couldn't contain Belle. Because I was too weak. Again."

"Wait just one second, Bella. That wasn't your fault. They were too dumb to run away, you said it yourself." Eve said firmly, jumping down from the counter. She marched over to the brunette, roughly grabbing her chin to make the two face each other. "You gave them all the time, all the warnings in the world. _You_ can't help it if they don't heed them. They still stuck around, wanting _something_ from you, I can only imagine what," she made a digested face. "Sounds to me like the schmucks deserved it."

Bella ripped her face away from Eve's grip. "_No one_ deserves the twisted _games_ that Belle plays. There were _four_ large men there, Eve, and you only found a bloody shoe."

The Witch's thoughts returned to the large brown paper bag that Belle had tossed onto the table. The clothes she had to _burn_ because the red just wouldn't come out.

The older girl watched on with guilt filling her eyes, saw the small grimace Eve tried to hide, and sighed deeply. "Can you please make sure the guests find their way out of mansion. Preferably sooner rather than later."

Eve nodded silently, her eyes following the violet silk sheet trailing after her pale friend as she left the room.

Why did Bella have to bare this?

It was a question she had asked herself many times over the past four years, one she didn't think she ever _would_ stop asking, because she just didn't understand.

Why did it have to be Bella, bearing this curse and for so very long? This kind, gentle, compassionate girl who thought of everyone before herself.

Why?

_~CV~_

"Let me get this straight," Rosalie began. She sped down the road behind her husband's enormous _purple_ hummer, because a hummer itself just wasn't attracting enough attention as is. Honestly, sometimes she wondered why everyone in the family thought _she_ was the vain one. Her golden eyes flickered away from the break lights half a dozen yards in front of her, over to her pixie sister she was driving with. "That Eve girl is _not_ your mate."

Alice looked up at her older sister, smiling brightly. "No," she chirped.

"But her sister _is_," the blonde inquired with a raised eyebrow.

She couldn't remember the whole mating business being _this_ difficult for her. She saw, she smelled, she knew. End of story. With Alice, she saw, she smelled, she didn't know, then she saw again, and now she _does_ know? It's not even the end of the story yet, now she has to go as far as doing this little dance of 'does she like me?', recruiting her brothers, and who she thought was, but turned out not to be, her mate. To be with her _real_ mate.

The pixie beamed, warmth and giddiness filling her at the mere thought of Bella. "Yes."

"And you need Eve's help to _talk_ to this Bella girl?" Rosalie asked, turning down the main road leading to the school. "You can't just go up to her and strike a friendship? Or seduce her," she continued, genuinely curious.

"Rose!" Alice chided.

The blonde fought off her smile. "What? I don't know how it goes with one human in a mated pair. With vampires, you just know and get together. There's no…dance. Do you have to seduce her? Is she feeling anything yet?"

Alice's brows furrowed as she thought about it. "Well… I'm not sure. I'll ask Carlisle later, after school. I _think_ she should be feeling something, I mean, I can't be the _only _one feeling this. It's too strong, she _has_ to be affected." Uncertainty flooded her and she looked up at her sister with a frown. "Right?"

"Of course," Rosalie replied firmly. Truthfully. "You have nearly the same affect on humans as I do, and _that's_ saying something."

The pixie rolled her eyes with a smirk, looking back out her window now that she felt better. More confident.

Rosalie looked back to the purple hummer parking in their usual spaces.

So maybe she _was_ the vain one.

_~CV~_

"They're _spying_ on us?" Bella asked, her head whipping around to look at Eve sitting in the passenger seat.

Her dark eyes narrowed as they pulled into the school parking lot, making sure to park on the other side of the lot from the expensive looking hummer and convertible.

Why were they spying on them? Had they figured out she and Eve knew about them?

Eve sighed deeply. "I knew I shouldn't have told you on the way here," she muttered. "That's what Belle said, and we both know how much Belle likes to lie. She might just be messing with our heads."

Brown eyes studied Eve's face carefully and Bella shook her head. "You don't believe that. You think she's telling the truth."

"I _think_ we shouldn't jump the gun, Bella. They're probably just curious because we're new." Eve said, gathering her things and grabbing the umbrella under the seat. It was absolutely _pouring_ out there. "I know Alice, and I know Edward, they're incredibly nice, polite people. Their eyes are _gold_ too, you said that was weird. Vampires have red eyes. They're different and I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt."

Bella's mind travelled to Jasper. Eve was right, they _were_ incredibly nice and polite. She couldn't see Jasper as a cold hearted killer, or deceiver either. Her gut wasn't screaming at her to run, and she always trusted her gut. It had kept her alive this long.

She sighed deeply, watching as the family of vampires made their way into the school.

"Fine, but that doesn't mean we don't use caution. I want you to be careful, Eve."

_~CV~_

Alice danced into the quiet English room. Students were still pouring in from the hallways, none too eager to get to class, rather hovering just outside the doorways to talk to their friends until the last bell rang. Even the teachers weren't excited about beginning their classes, having to talk over students, reprimand them for talking even though no matter what they would _still_ talk -it was a hopeless battle and they knew it-, all the while knowing they were prime targets for spitballs, offensive jokes, and crudely drawn pictures.

Sometimes school sucked all around.

The tiny vampire glided over to the table in the back, where her partner was already sitting and waiting, deep in thought. Alice felt a spike of envy fill her as she gazed at the long, white hair the elf had. So much and so long, she had it up in various buns, with braids wrapped around, looping through, and her long white bangs brushing her chin still.

How fun would it be to play with such long, thick hair?

Her thoughts flashed back to her mate for the umpteenth time that morning, dark locks cascading down over her shoulders in thick waves. Perhaps soon enough she _would _know how much fun it is.

"Hi, Alice, I barely heard you come in," Eve greeted happily, sitting up straighter to smile at her friend.

Alice returned her smile, sitting down in a graceful move and pulling out her books to open them up in front of her. "What can I say, I was built for stealth."

"No doubt," Eve nodded. "So how are you this gloomy morning?"

"Wonderful," the vampire chimed brightly. "Yourself?"

"Tired. Had a _long_ night, and I'm pooped. I don't think I'll be able to stay awake if we're just reading all class again." Eve said with a small chuckle.

Alice patted the girl's shoulder, smiling knowingly. "I'm sure you'll manage. And how is Bella today?"

The Witch hesitated, studying the vampire before her. There was an excited, eager light in her golden eyes as she waited for a reply, her smile seeming a little…sweeter? Alice was always _very_ curious about Bella lately.

Could they have known about her…?

No, surely they would have had a different reaction.

It had to be something else then, there had to be a different reason for Alice's interest. Why was Alice interested in her though?

_Wait a minute…_

_Alice is INTERESTED in Bella._

Eve's eyes widened in astonishment, looking at the girl in a new light.

She knew that Bella's dark and broody ways attracted attention, that and the fact that the girl really _was _beautiful, even if she wouldn't admit it. There were dozens of fanboys everywhere they moved, and it wasn't uncommon for there to be a few fan_girls_ as well. In fact, there were more and more fangirls every move.

But a _vampire_ fangirl.

_That_ was new.

Eve's lips twitched up, an amused smirk forming on her face. "You're sweet on her, aren't you?" She asked, though she already knew the answer.

The signs were all there; Alice _always_ asked about Bella -she had spent the entire day yesterday asking about her-, she would smile when the two saw Bella passing by in the hallway and follow the brunette with her eyes until she turned a corner, and Bella had said that Jasper asked if she was single. Alice's very _gay_, and probably very _helpful_ brother. All of that, added to the fact that Alice seemed to be dressing even fancier than her siblings, and Eve knew.

The pale pixie's eyes widened as well before she smiled faintly. "You're very intuitive, Eve," she murmured.

Eve snorted. "I am, but a blind man could see you like her."

"Does she know?" Alice asked, nervous and excited again.

The Witch full out laughed this time, gaining the attention of the annoyed teacher and a few curious students. She calmed herself, smiling sheepishly at the teacher and pretended to listen again. Her eyes travelled over to Alice, taking in the simple white dress that went down to mid thigh, the silk black bow tied around her waist, the black stockings and white pumps, with a white headband in her spiked hair. She couldn't see how Bella _didn't _know. Alas… "Bella's the blind man's dead brother who _can't_ see. She doesn't have the habit of focusing on other people too much."

"Oh," Alice said, her smile faltering.

It wasn't _bad_ news.

Just meant that the girl was oblivious to the affect she had on people.

"Yeah…" Eve replied, trailing off in thought. She was fairly certain she had heard, or maybe read, somewhere that vampires had mates. Soul mates, their other halves, imprints, whatever people wanted to call it. There was one person for them, and they were the one for someone else.

That meant that Alice's feelings were deep, _really_ deep, and this was very serious. Or that she was just attracted to Bella, a little crush, and would move on once she found her mate. Which would…what? How would Bella feel about either?

And if Alice _was_ serious about this, that meant Bella was Alice's mate. That Alice was _Bella's_ mate. Bella had and was a mate.

What about her, though? Did Werewolves have mates, too? Did that change this? Was it different from a Vampire's mate? Was it similar?

If this was all true, then wouldn't Bella have noticed? Wouldn't she be feeling something?

She hadn't told Eve, if she was.

Would she keep something like that from the Witch?

All these questions!

"This is turning out to be a very exciting day, indeed!" Eve chirped brightly, looking back over to Alice who started to beam as well. "I should probably warn you, though, Bella is very stubborn."

Alice nodded. "We gathered as much, that's why we thought we'd need some help." She said with a pointed look towards the elf.

A light eyebrow arched again for the second time that morning, a scheming smirk stretching across her face.

_~CV~_

"Here, let me get the door for you, Bella!" Mike shouldered his way ahead of the girl, rushing to hold open the cafeteria door for her. He pulled on his most charming grin, winking at her as she hesitantly walked through the doorway. "I'm a firm believer in chivalry and all that crap," He grinned.

_Too bad it's dying,_ Bella thought idly. She looked to the buffet line and then searched empty tables for Eve, furrowing her brows and frowning slightly.

She spotted her elf-like friend walking over to an empty table in the back of the cafeteria, about to set her tray down when a group of blonde and pink shoved past to sit there before her. Both girls paused, confused.

"This table is already taken, emo." Lauren's nasally voice had Bella's fists clenching. She stepped forward, only to have Mike block her way as he continued to yammer on about some sort of dance.

He ran a hand through his blonde hair that was usually gelled up, but lay flat today. "I'm also a firm believer in old traditions, boys asking girls out, you know? I'm aware that some of us are a little intimidating and hard to approach, so _some_ girls are hesitant to ask. I pick up on that pretty easy," He smirked.

Bella looked over the boy's shoulder with ease, an inch taller than his five foot nine stature. She watched as Eve tilted her head to the side, trying not to glare at Lauren and Jessica who were giggling. "I thought your table was back over there, with Angela, Eric, and Ben." She said, pointing to the trio looking on with confused and apprehensive faces.

"Change of plans," Lauren snapped. "We want to sit here, so we're _going_ to sit here."

"But I was going to sit-"

"Yeah, well now you're not," Jessica laughed.

Lauren placed her elbow on the table, her chin in her palm as she sneered up at Eve. Bella sidestepped Mike, stalking over to aid her friend. "You're so buddy-buddy with the _Cullens_, why don't you sit with _them_."

A massive form came out of nowhere, towering over Eve as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Sounds like a plan to me!" Emmett Cullen boomed.

Eve jumped, nearly spilling her entire tray of food in the process, Emmett having to reach around and steady it. She looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes and he grinned a dimple grin, looking very much like a little boy. "Um…"

"Come on, we don't bite," he urged.

The Witch couldn't stop herself from snorting, earning unseen raised eyebrows from the other Cullens waiting at their table. "Alright," She agreed after a moment, smirking down at the blondes who were all gaping. "Table's all yours, Lauren." She winked, watching the girl's face screw up in anger.

Bella's slim figure appeared by Eve's side, her dark eyes glaring fiercely at Lauren. The angry look on her face quickly fell off as she shrank back, still not entirely convinced that the brunette wouldn't physically attack her. "You-"

"No, Bella," Eve whispered, her hand reaching out for Bella's wrist. She knew that Isabelle was weak right now, after having control for the entire night, and that she probably wasn't even actively around right now, but she didn't want to risk Bella getting too upset and another slip up. "Let's just go with Emmett."

_Strike two, Lauren,_ Bella's thoughts turned dark as she glowered at the girl a final time before turning to the other two. "Fine," she muttered, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Are you okay?"

Eve nodded furiously, beaming at her friend. Trust Bella to go from angry to concerned in the blink of an eye. "Yup, now let's go, I'm hungry!"

"Right on!" Emmett cheered, leading the two over to their table with a giant grin. "I know everyone knows everyone here, but we're not beasts and proper introductions are in order," He grinned cheekily. "I'm Emmett and that's Rosie," he sat down next to his mate who nodded. "Ed and Jasper," the two smiled, Jasper murmuring a more personal greeting to Bella. "And Ali-Cat."

"Alice," The pixie corrected with a glare at her brother, standing up to beam at Bella. "But we've already met. Nice to see you again, Bella."

"And-" The brunette paused, a familiar sensation blossoming in her. Her body and the air around her, she could feel it again, like it was humming. Tiny little vibrations running through her, barely able to detect, thrumming through her.

She was _feeling_ again, and it was starting to drive her crazy. Crazy because it made no sense, she couldn't even give it a proper name, let alone define or explain it. If she couldn't figure out _what_ it was, how was she supposed to figure out its cause or how to stop it?

"…you," she finished, shaking herself from her thoughts.

She went to sit in one of the empty chairs next to Edward, only for Eve to zip in quickly and take it, smiling sheepishly up at her. Bella raised an eyebrow before sitting down in the other empty chair, watching Alice sit down next to her, grinning.

She couldn't help but shake the feeling that Eve was up to something, her smile a little more amused than usual.

_~CV~_

**Author's Note: **_Again, I must apologize for the lack of Alice/Bella interaction in this chapter, Belle tends to take up a lot of space. The next few chapters should have plenty, though, as the Cullens and Eve help Alice along. Let me know how you liked this chapter and what you think about it, reviews are always welcome, as is constructive criticism. As always, thanks to xPaige Turnerx for co-writing and beta-ing._

_I'm sorry if I've mangled any Italian, I'm using Google translate._

_(1) - annoying witch._

_~Velvet_


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Twilight or anything familiar you read._

**Rated: **_T._

**Author: **_Crushing Velvet._

**Summary:**_ Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long." _

_Seattle, Washington._

The morning air was chilly, colder than usual and had a bite to it that could take a person's breath away. People rushed to and from their cars as they begrudgingly went to work, some stopping to scrape the frost off their windows, others slowing down to a crawl on the slippery sidewalks. Such a wet, cold climate had its fair share of hazardous patches of ice all around the city, including the more secluded neighbourhoods.

That was exactly why Eve refused to step foot out of the car again, in fear that her bottom would have another untimely meeting with the ground. That, and it was just so _cold_, and Bella…Bella liked to run in this weather. She wasn't sure why, she wasn't even sure _how_ because every other step had the brunette tripping or stumbling under normal circumstances, but the second she stepped onto the pavement of the road and took off in a fast paced jog, she was a freaking ballerina.

Instead, Eve chose to slowly roll along next to her friend as she and Bear jogged down the road in the quiet morning. The heaters were on full blast in the camaro, the passenger window unrolled, with an enormous eskimo coat on, the hood up and nearly swallowing her entire head. Her grey eyes were narrowed, a frown marring her face as she glared at her friend who seemed untouched by the weather. It was times like these that Eve wondered if maybe Bella really was a little more than human. Surely whatever caged something like Isabelle had to be more than human, at least a little bit.

The brunette jogged along the road behind her dog, her thick, dark hair pulled up in a tie, a hooded sweater big and baggy to keep out the cold, and a pair of long, baggy shorts with her runners. Every thirty seconds that passed, she would raise up her hand and glance at her wrist, keeping track of the numbers and how high they got. The rest of the time she concentrated on blocking Belle out, something that was easier to do during her jogs early in the morning.

She wasn't sure if that was the Wolf's way of sleeping in or not.

"Bella," Eve whined. "Get in the car. Let's go for breakfast or something if you're set on being up this early. I don't wanna _jog_, for crying out loud. That crap's for lawyers and sports team members, and people trying to lose weight. You don't need to lose weight."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "You _aren't_ jogging, Eve," she pointed out with a meaningful look. "And that's not all it's for. Jogging can be very relaxing and tranquil. It can help clear your mind, or get away from stress. Out here it's just you and the road, a road that never ends, where everyday life can't touch you."

"Gag," Eve muttered. She sped up slightly, a few yards ahead of her friend to match her pace with the dog. "Hey, Bear! Wanna go for a ride? Want a car ride? Car ride - nice and warm!" She gushed in an excited voice. If she could get Bear, she could get Bella. Alas, the dog just kept on running and she scowled, slowing back down. Bella grinned over at her. "What does he know, he's just a dog."

"He's my baby."

It wasn't a typical coo, it wasn't a cutsie voice, or even a baby voice. It didn't get high and squeaky like most did, and she didn't carry out syllables for effect. However, it _was_ her 'owner' voice; slightly softer, slightly warmer, going hand in hand with the smallest little light in her dark eyes. It was also the most affection Eve had ever seen Bella give _anyone_. Well, unless she was sick or dying, or something worse. One thing was perfectly clear though, those dogs meant more to her than the rest of the world.

"Pfft. He's your cousin, ya werewolf."

"Is there a _reason_ you're jogging with me today, Eve?" Bella asked with narrowed eyes, raising her hand to look at the numbers again. She glanced back over to the Witch to see her struggling for nonchalance. Eve never really was good with masks.

Said girl sighed, her voice indifferent. "Oh, nothing really. Just bored."

"You were sleeping."

"Bored of sleeping then," she countered. "Thought I'd spend some time with my best friend, accompany her on her morning jogs, see what's new. How she's doing. You know, the usual." She made sure her grin was wide and innocent.

The brunette's shoulders rose and fell, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. She furrowed her brows, glancing off to the side and into the woods she always ran along, looking up ahead to see Bear doing the same thing. Her dark eyes scoured the trees, looking for anything out of place.

Nothing but shadows.

"I'm fine."

Eve hummed, nodding slowly. "Therein lies your problem, Bella."

Her jog slowed down with her confusion as she tilted her head, staring into the car at her friend. "What problem? Why?"

"Well," The Witch drawled. "You're always fine. Just fine. Every day I ask. Fine, fine, fine."

Bella chuckled lowly, shaking her head. "Fine's okay, Eve. A lot better than bad, wouldn't you say?"

"A lot worse than good, wouldn't you say?"

"I can't tell if I'm impressed or annoyed when you get philosophical on me."

Eve's eyes crinkled with mirth. "Impressed. Definitely."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, yes. You're always impressed with me. Everyone is; I'm kinda awesome."

"Well as long as you know it," Bella snickered, shaking her head still.

"Ah, ah, as long as _you_ and everyone else know it." Eve's smile was mischievous. "You know who else is awesome?"

"No," Bella puffed, pressing two fingers against her neck and staring at her watch. She always hated getting new watches, always having to perfect them because they were always a little off. She sighed, adjusting it while glaring down at the little numbers. "Who else?"

"Alice Cullen."

Eve could see that her friend was barely paying attention to her anymore, more interested in tinkering around with her watch. She rolled her eyes, waiting longer than usual for a response from her, and when she got it, she wasn't entirely thrilled. The brunette hummed indifferently. "Oh yes, your new best friend. The one that almost let you get trampled in the hallway?"

Further up the road, the two saw Bear's head whip up and around to the trees again and he let out a low whine. Bella frowned, snapping her fingers, and he slowed down to a jog, keeping only a few feet in front of her.

The Witch frowned too. "She didn't almost let me get squished, Bella. I'm sure she would have done something to stop that boy, if you hadn't." She pouted slightly. "And you're getting off track."

"_I'm_ getting off track?" Bella asked incredulously.

Eve tilted her head to the side, her brows furrowing slightly. "What? Oh! Right! _I_ was saying something before you so rudely interrupted me, wasn't I?" She huffed, glaring down at the speedometer, as if _it_ were the one who had interrupted her and stolen all her thoughts. "What _was_ I saying?"

"Alice Cullen is awesome."

She hummed, nodding slowly. "Yeah…well, keep that in mind, I guess." She finally said, completely forgetting what it was she had been saying before hand.

Bella rolled her dark eyes again, slowing down until they stopped. She opened the passenger door, looked down at Bear, snapped her fingers again and then got in herself. She rolled up her window, glancing one last time at the trees, before turning to look at Eve. "Does this Alice Cullen mean something to you?"

"What? Me? No." Eve furiously shook her head. "I mean, not _really_. She's a friend, I suppose. _You_ should be friends with her, though. Maybe she could mean something to you." The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Or whatever. You know."

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Bella mumbled, staring out the window. "Seems like something Belle would have a field day about."

Eve snorted. "Yeah, well Belle can stuff it for all I care."

_~CV~_

"You've got to be kidding me. A jeweller? Really? We've spent _all_ day running around town grabbing Wolfsbane, herbs, spices, and other Witchy crap, and now we're hanging out at a jeweller's?" Isabelle grudgingly followed Bella out of the car, crossing her arms over her chest. "Can't we just stop at some punk store in the mall quickly?"

Underneath the black umbrella, Bella was fumbling for her keys to lock the doors with numb fingers. It was getting colder and colder lately, and having to hold that steering wheel, even with the heat on, was taking its toll on her pink fingers. "This is your fault, if you'll recall. _You_ were the one who decided to rip out my piercings and toss them God know's where."

"They had the men's blood on them. I had to destroy the evidence," Belle grinned wolfishly.

The girl's shoulders rose and fell in a shrug as she approached the building. "Now I need new piercings."

"Again, let me point out the many _cheaper_ stores in the mall who sell that stuff."

Bella shook her head. "I've been wanting to try something for a few years. Eve pointed it out back in England, but there were too many Covens of Witches in the city to try it. Word would have spread and they would have known who I am."

"And what exactly are we trying today?" Belle asked as she looked around the fancy store.

Putting the now closed umbrella into her messenger bag and straightening her coat, Bella looked around the store too. This place _should_ be able to do what she asked, she might have to pay a little more, but money wasn't an issue. Skill was, and she hoped they had someone talented enough to do what she was asking. "Wiccan markings," she replied, flexing her pink fingers. She ignored Belle's indignant snort and approached the counter, nodding at the fancy dressed man standing behind it. "I need some engraving done on polished iron. It _has_ to be iron and the markings _have_ to be exact."

"Um," the man blinked a few times, utterly lost. He watched the brunette pull out a folded sheet up paper and open it up, many intricate designs on it. "L-Let me go grab my associate."

The two girls watched Fancy Man scurry off behind a closed door, Belle leaning against the counter, tapping her fingers on the glass while Bella stood tall and straight, her posture almost rigid. "What exactly _are_ the designs for?" Belle asked. There were three different ones, though they looked like many more because of the intricacy, and the only thing she could make out for certain amongst the patterns were wolves. She could see a different one in each; the first those eyes that matched hers, the second a pair of snapping jaws, and the last one was a little more difficult because of how small it was, but she didn't have a doubt; a wolf howling at the moon.

"Locks," Bella muttered quietly as a newly engaged couple passed by. She watched them go before looking back at Isabelle. "At least, that's how Eve explained it to me. They're like stronger, more powerful locks to put on the cage that I've trapped the Wolf in."

"All that trouble just for little ol' me," Belle cooed, blinking her lashes at the brunette.

Rolling her dark eyes, Bella shook her head. "Not you, the Wolf. The actual one, who _you_ lose yourself to on the full moon or when you get out of control."

"One and the same," Belle hissed out.

The brunette tilted her head to the side, her face neutral but her words carrying a bite. "You don't fool me." She shook her head. "These should keep it locked away for good, at least until the full moons, even if you're in control."

"And if I take them off?" Isabelle challenged with a growl.

Fancy Man opened the door again with another man following behind him. "Then you're unlocking a cage even _you_ don't like opening."

"These designs, Joseph. Is this something you could do?" Fancy Man asked, fiddling with his pink silk tie.

The other man, Joseph, hummed to himself as he looked down at the paper. He wiped the jewel shavings from his fingers onto his apron, obviously the Cutter, and picked it up, studying the designs on it. He glanced up at Bella, raising an eyebrow. "What do you want them on?"

"Eyebrow, lip, and tongue piercings. They have to be iron," she reiterated from before. "I'm willing to pay any extra costs for this task."

Joseph looked back down at the designs, putting the paper back onto the counter. He nodded slowly, holding his thumb and index finger apart. "They won't be bulky but they will have to be wide to fit the designs on. Just shy of a centimetre."

The brunette was already nodding, pulling out a wad of cash. "That's fine, do what you have to. How soon will they be ready?"

"Extra for the rush and they'll be done by the end of the day tomorrow." Joseph said, looking over to Fancy Man and nodded before heading back through the door with the paper in hand.

Bella handed the money over to the man, reaching back into her messenger bag for her umbrella. "I'll be back tomorrow."

_~CV~_

Deep, dark eyes glared into the mirror and back at herself, nothing but ice walls inside them, keeping everyone out and keeping everything in. Bella clutched the edge of the counter in her bathroom, her knuckles turning white from the pressure as she continued to glare at herself, her jaw clenched tight. Isabelle sat on the counter on one side, one foot dangling off the edge and hovering over the tiled floor, the other up on the counter with her so she could rest her chin on her knee. She was wearing the biggest grin ever, excitement brimming in her eyes. "This is gonna hurt," she chimed, those yellow eyes glancing down at the jar of water and Wolfsbane.

Leaning against the washroom door frame was Eve, her arms crossed and wearing a frown. She didn't try to hide the concern in her eyes or her voice as she watched her friend, and nervously chewed on her lip. "Are you sure about this, Bella? You don't have to, I mean, your control is pretty good as is."

"I'm sure." There was no explanation, though the Witch didn't exactly expect one. Bella hardly _ever_ gave explanations; she did what she did, said what she said, and if she thought you needed to know why, then you'd know. Otherwise, she basically kept things to herself. It was something that Eve was still trying to get used to, and sometimes it aggravated her to no end.

Taking one last deep breath, Bella unscrewed the lid off the jar. Her fingers hung over the open glass and she blinked before dunking her hand in to grab the piercings. She hissed, her back spasming and arching forwards slightly as a wolfish snarl tore out of her throat. It was the Wolf, buried too deep to _really_ do anything, protesting. She quickly dropped the iron piercings on the paper towel, rinsing off her rash-pink hand in the sink.

The tongue piercing was no longer a ball on her tongue, but more like a tiny plaque with the designs engraved on its surface. It was surprisingly lighter than she had thought, given it was iron, but she blinked back the moisture in her eyes and rolled her tongue around a few times. "Not bad," she murmured, making sure her words weren't slurred.

The eyebrow piercing wasn't too heavy either; she had no problem lifting the brow, nor did it weigh down and droop into her eye like she'd briefly panicked about in bed the night before.

Like the other two, the lip ring wasn't heavy either. Being wider, though, it did feel different on her mouth, and she ran the tip of her tongue over the Wiccan markings a few times. She pursed her lips once or twice before turning to Eve, giving her a nod. "Okay, I'm ready."

The Witch slinked up to her friend hesitantly, looking uncertain. "Are you _really_ sure, Bella?"

Again, the brunette nodded and closed her eyes, waiting.

With a sigh, Eve held her left hand up in front of Bella's face, her palm towards the piercings. She closed her eyes as well, ducking her face to mutter words and incantations under her breath. Bella tried to keep up until she realized the language wasn't English, but Romanian, and instead just braced herself for what was to come.

At first nothing happened and when Eve opened her eyes, she frowned in disappointment. Sure, it had been a few years since she spoke Romanian, but she was fluent in it. She _was_ Romanian, and it's not something you just…forget easily. She'd spoken it for ten years of her life!

The Wiccan markings, the ones she could see at least; the eyebrow and lip, flashed. They lit up and started glowing, like burning embers in the grooves, and Eve laughed excitedly as it started working.

Well, she laughed until she realized that Bella was in pain. Then it was definitely _less_ exciting.

Bella gasped, her hand reaching up to clutch her chest, right over her heart. The muscle cramped uncomfortably at first, feeling like someone had reached into her chest and poked it. Then there was a knife and someone was _stabbing _it and the girl cried out, stumbling back into the washroom wall. Her eyes flashed open, her irises a mixture of the Wolf's glowing yellow and the burning embers. She collapsed, _all_ her muscles seizing, and fell to the bathroom floor, snarling and growling, tears streaming down her face.

The Witch watched on in horror as her friend had some kind of _freakish_ heart attack, too scared to move, but her body trembling as she tried to figure out how to help Bella.

"Get out," Bella gasped, trying to focus her eyes on Eve. Another snarl bubbled up in her chest and she smothered it with a painful scream, her fist shooting out to punch one of the cupboards on the counter. The little wooden door collapsed against the pressure, folding like paper. _"Get out!"_ She screamed again.

Eve jumped, quickly doing as she was told and sped out of the room.

The door was kicked shut after her, Bella turning onto her belly and trying to get into the fetal position. Her blood was boiling, a sensation she was familiar with from over the years of the Wolf tearing out of its cage, and Bella screamed again. She furiously tried to shove the beast back into the cage, taking a deep, choked breath.

Evidently, the Wolf didn't want to be locked away for good, at least not without a fight.

But just as soon as it had come, it was gone, and Bella felt her muscles relaxing. She exhaled deeply, the cool tiles soothing her burning cheek. When her eyes opened, they were once again the dark chocolate brown they always were.

Once she was certain she wouldn't fall flat on her face, Bella reached up with a shaking hand and grabbed the counter ledge. Slowly, she pulled herself up onto trembling legs, looking up and into the mirror again. The piercings were no longer glowing, looking like just regular ones with engraved designs on them, and she sighed deeply. Belle was flickering back into view not looking too happy at all, and Bella groaned.

She'd hoped, for the briefest moments, that maybe this would lock Isabelle away, too.

"Bella," Eve asked as she poked her head back into the bathroom. "You okay?"

Her voice was rough, shaky, when she answered. "Yes. I'm fine."

"Fine," Eve muttered. "I don't like that word."

_~CV~_

The little white lines on the road, dividing it into two lanes, were blurred together in one long fuzzy white line. The trees, too, where just one big green and brown blur, whizzing by as Eve listened to Bella talk about something or other.

She sighed, looking back into the car. "So, why exactly are we taking the Rolls Royce today?"

"The Camaro's engine is knocking. I need to get it fixed, so in the mean time we'll take this. Or one of the others, but this seemed the least flashy."

"Ah," Eve nodded a few times. She grinned, looking over at Bella who had the common sense to squirm, knowing something was up again. "Speaking of knocking engines and flashy cars… do werewolves have mates?"

Bella stared ahead blankly. "Uh…"

"Well, I've been pondering this for a while." Eve said, her brows furrowed as she angled herself to look at the brunette. "Vampires have mates, right? You said it was something about scent or whatever when I asked the other day."

"Yes."

Eve nodded again. "And those Shape Shifters find their Imprints by love at first Sight. Just one look and they know."

"Correct."

"While Witches are too human for anything that easy. We just have to kinda wing it and go with our emotions to tell us." She said, her face falling into a slight pout. "Totally bogus and ridiculous, if you ask me. We have _magic_ at our fingertips for crying out loud, but whatever. What I want to know is about Werewolves. Do you guys even _have_ mates and stuff?"

The brunette stared out the windshield for a long time. Long enough that Eve was about to repeat herself, in case Bella hadn't heard the first time. When she did reply, she didn't look at Eve, her grip on the steering wheel tightening a fraction. "They don't call them mates or imprints or soulmates." She breathed deeply, blinking a few times. "And it's incredibly unheard of, more like a legend."

Eve snorted. "Holy crap. A legend amongst a legend. So what do you call them?"

"_I_ don't call them anything," Bella growled. "I'm not the Werewolf, here. Belle is. I'm just…cursed."

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to-" Eve started.

"It's fine," the brunette shot off quickly. "I didn't mean to snap. Werewolves have a _Cor Meum, _supposedly."

Eve's brows furrowed, her face screwing up in confusion. "A what?"

"It's Latin," Bella explained. "A much more common language back in the days of the Wolf. Directly translated, it means 'my heart'."

"Oh," Eve tilted her head to the side, a small smile playing at her lips. "That's kinda sweet." The brunette shrugged her shoulders, indifferent. "How did they find them? Did they sniff them out, too?"

Bella shook her head, turning into the school parking lot. "No, I believe theirs was touch."

"What?"

"One touch, and they knew." The older girl said, parking the car. She reached back for her bag, turning off the car and stuffing the keys into her pocket. Eve smirked, catching the light scarlet tint to her friend's cheeks. "Something to do with the heart again, and the touch would ignite this hunger, an insatiable, unquenchable hunger for their _Cor Meum_ until they…ahem, consummated their relationship." She awkwardly cleared her throat as Eve's laughter filled the car. "Anyways, afterwards there would always be this…tug, or pull, like longing to be around them, near them, touching them."

"You wolves were a bunch of _wolves_, man," Eve laughed, winking.

Bella flushed, looking away. "Longing to touch them _innocently_. Like, holding hands, brushing shoulders, something. Anything for contact. It's only…like _that_ at the beginning."

"Is that why you don't touch people? Are you afraid of finding your _Cor Meum_?" Eve asked.

The brunette's blush quickly faded and she got out of the car, stepping into the rain. "I don't have one." She said, walking around to get under Eve's umbrella. "Belle does, and that's only _if_ they exist. I can't see how anything like her could deserve one, though."

Eve pursed her lips, looking around the parking lot for the Cullens. Their cars were there, so they must have already been inside. She shrugged her shoulders, looking up at Bella. "I don't know about that. I've seen things over the years, Bella. Caught little stuff. Those Witches screwed up one way, they could have screwed up another. That Wolf could be as much yours as it is Belle's. They could have created _two_ Werewolves in _one_ body."

The brunette glared down at the pavement, staring hard until she shook her head. "I'm nothing, Eve. Just a prison."

_~CV~_

"I _may_ have accidentally gotten her into a foul mood today." Eve said as she sat down next to Alice in the first class they shared.

Her smile was sheepish, her grey eyes wide and innocent, her white hair down and straight today, tucked behind her ears. It gave her a cute little elf look, one that Bella herself couldn't ever get mad at. She was hoping it would work just as well on Alice.

The pixie stared at her with a surprised face, turning in her chair to face the Witch. Over the many years, she'd had to use her infamous pout. The wide, watery eyes. The ever so slight jutting of her bottom lip. It was a power of mass manipulation, one she wielded wonderfully, and never had she even considered someone out trumping her in that regard.

Thankfully, she still didn't.

Eve was cute. She'd give her that. The white hair, the elf look, innocence in bundles.

It was all very cute.

However, what it wasn't was _adorable_. Cute could not trump adorable. Alice was _tiny_, where Eve was just small. She was petite, where Eve, though small, looked like she could hold her own and not be tossed around like a rag-doll in the wind.

So Alice smiled, leaned back, and raised an eyebrow. "Pardon me?"

"Bella's in a mood today," Eve repeated, gathering her things on her desk and setting them up. "And it may or may not be my fault."

"Oh," the smile left Alice's face. "Is she okay?"

Eve nodded, smiling brightly. "She's great. Just being a sourpuss."

"For some reason I don't believe you."

"Neither do I."

"Will she _be_ okay?"

"That, I can answer honestly, yes." Eve said, this time with a more sincere smile. "Bella's a trooper, she just needs to brush this off. So how goes courting the brooding girl on your end?" She asked, looking down to Alice's attire.

High heel boots, a short black skirt, and a red turtle neck. Eve wasn't certain, but the last time she checked turtle necks were for Christmas sweaters or five year olds. But, like the rest of the Cullens, Alice made it seem fancier and more fashionable than an evening gown.

The Witch squished down the bitter jealousy, idly fiddling with her hair. "Not bad," she sighed. Especially with the red head band in her hair, that had a little black bow on it.

"If I asked Bella to have lunch with just me today, do you think she would say no?" Alice asked. She wasn't _nervous_, per say, well, her smile was. She was mostly just…unsettled by the fact that one wrong move could send her mate running.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" Alice repeated, her eyes wide. "Does she not like me?"

Eve shrugged her shoulders, looking for words. "Bella doesn't like anyone. She doesn't _dislike_ you, but…she doesn't know you. You should ask her. If she turns you down, she turns you down and you can always try again tomorrow."

"You're not very good at the whole pep talk thing, Eve." Alice said with a frown.

"Not especially," Eve agreed with a nod.

_~CV~_

Her jaw clenched tightly, fists balled in her pockets as she walked into the cafeteria, trying to tune out the yammering in her ear.

Alas, the annoyance proved to be louder than she had thought, and trying to tune it out was not going to work. Mike was grinning from ear to ear, walking backwards as he continued to gush on and on and on _and on_ about that stupid Winter Ball coming up, and _goodness_ how Bella would love nothing more than to shove the kid, sending him sprawling all over one of the tables. Instead, she grimaced against the small headache forming and continued on to the lunch line.

"So," Mike grinned. "I'm willing to consider paying for your dinner as well if you just agree to go to the dance with me. What do you say?" He asked with a hopeful glint in his eye.

The brunette took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair. "Every day," she began. "Every day you find me, _corner_ me, and demand I go to this silly little dance with you, Michael."

"It's Mike-"

"Mike is a nickname, a family name, something you share amongst friends. Just as Bella is." The girl said. "To each other, _you_ are Michael and _I_ am Isabella. Understood?" He nodded happily, moving along the line with her. "What is my answer to those demands, Michael?"

He chuckled. "They're not _really_ demands. Just questions. Impatient, I'll give you, but questions all the same and-"

"The answer, Michael."

He pouted. "You say no."

"Every day?"

"Yes."

Bella cocked her hip out, putting a hand on it and levelling him a look. "So what makes you think that my answer has somehow magically changed in the last twenty four hours?"

Once again, Mike was smiling brightly. He slung his arm around the girl's shoulders, his tone confident." Well, 'cause the surest way to a woman's heart is through persistence, right?"

The brunette scowled, shrugging off his offending limb and turned to glare at the boy. "No. The surest way to _anyone's_ heart is through the ribcage, Michael." She poked his chest, hard enough for him to yelp and start rubbing it with another pout. "Now leave me alone."

Eve skipped up to the two with a bright smile, saddling up next to Bella. "Hey, Mike," she greeted happily.

The boy perked up again. "Eve! Just the girl I was looking for. Tell your sister here to lighten up and go to the Winter Ball with me."

Her head tilted to the side, studying the boy, bemused. "Bye, Mike."

"But-"

"_Bye_, Mike."

_"Fine!"_

The two watched him stomp off like a petulant child, huffing as he slumped down at his table of friends. Eve shook her head with a laugh and turned back to Bella who was glaring at the boy. "So, Bella," she said, getting the taller girl's attention. "I'm not going to be staying for lunch. I've…um, got a test to make up for somewhere."

"What?" Bella looked down at her friend with wide eyes. "Why?"

"I failed a test?" Eve said, though it came out sounding more like a question. Bella's eyebrows shot up and Eve nodded furiously. "Yes. Yes, I failed a test. Bad Eve. Now, I gotta go make up for it and you can't come with me, they'll think I'm cheating or something. So you're going to have to eat alone today."

"Uh-"

"Oh look!" Eve said, spinning around behind her to point at the pixie. "It's Alice! Well I have to go, have a good lunch, Bella."

"I-"

Eve was skipping back out of the cafeteria the next second, waving over her shoulder before the door closed behind her. Bella shook her head, bewildered, and looked down to see Alice standing where the Witch had just been. The pixie beamed up at her, her nostrils flaring and those golden eyes twinkling with something Bella couldn't name or place. "Hello, Bella."

"Alice," Bella inclined her head in greeting. "How are you this afternoon?"

"I'm great, thank you! How are you today?" She asked, following the brunette down the line.

Bella noticed that Alice only grabbed a granny smith apple and a bottle of water, her tray looking quite empty. She wondered if any of the humans ever noticed, and then found herself wondering if vampires could drink water. Could their bodies ingest it like blood, minus the affects blood did for them? Or would it just…sit in their bellies forever?

"I'm fine."

"Just fine?"

The brunette huffed, her brows furrowing. "You know, I'm not sure what everyone's problem with fine is lately. Fine is okay. It's not bad; you'd think they'd be a little more accepting of it."

Alice held up her hands with a smile. "Fine is fine," She lamented. "But why aren't you good?"

"There's nothing to be _good_ about." Bella shrugged her shoulders, looking for an empty table.

Alice pointed to one close by, following the behind the girl. "You need something to be good about? You aren't just good by default?"

"Is anyone?" Bella asked as she sat down, opening her water.

Alice perched on the chair across from her, her brows furrowing. "I thought so. _I_ am."

"Lucky you," Bella muttered. She hesitated reach for her sandwich, her hand frozen in mid air as that familiar sensation washed over her yet again. She blinked a few times, feeling the vibrations running up her arms, and shook her head. "Do you feel that?" She asked abruptly.

The pixie paused, stilling to feel anything, and then slowly shook her head. "No, what do you feel?"

Bella glared at her water bottle, looking to see if the water inside was vibrating as well.

It was completely still.

"It's…_humming."_

Again, Alice stilled completely, waiting for it. She frowned when she couldn't feel anything, ducking to catch those dark eyes. "What is?"

"The air," Bella whispered. Maybe it wasn't the air, though. Maybe it was her because she could feel it in her chest now, thrumming through her ribs, leaving her almost breathless. She actually felt kind of dizzy. "Forget it." Bella said. "It's nothing, just in my head."

Alice bit her lip, humming. "If you say so," she nodded, playing with the lid on her bottle. A minute of silence fell over the table until Alice cleared her throat. "So, your accent. Is it Italian?"

"You can hear it?" Bella asked, surprised. She didn't think even the vampires could; it had faded quite a bit over the years.

The pixie nodded furiously with a wide smile. "Oh yes, I _really_ like it."

Bella looked up at Alice from under her lashes, studying the vampire in front of her. If this girl meant something to Eve, which she obviously did considering that the Witch never stopped talking about her for even a minute lately, then perhaps it would be in Bella's best interest to get to know her. Surely there was no harm in getting closer to the vampires; it wasn't like she could hurt _them_ if she lost control.

"Thank you."

_~CV~_

**Author's Note:**_ And so it begins! How soon do you think it will be before they touch? Accidentally? On purpose? _

_A quick shout out to xPaige Turnerx for putting my ideas into wonderful chapters like this one. _

_Review please!_

_~Velvet_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Twilight._

**Rated:**_T._

**Author:**_Crushing Velvet._

**Beta: **_xPaige Turnerx. Whom I'm borrowing Eve from._

**Summary:**_Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Seattle, Washington._

She knew her pretty well.

In fact, both girls knew each other better than anyone else on the planet, and it was shocking to think it only took four measly years. If that; they'd known each others' ins and outs for quite a while now. Eve knew which hidden buttons needed pushing to get a reaction from the stoic brunette, and Bella knew the one thing that got the witch riled up most of all was when she ignored her. Eve knew Bella was allergic to kiwis and pineapple, and Bella knew Eve might as well have been allergic to peppers for how much she _hated_ them. Eve needed comfort when she was upset, Bella needed space when she was, Eve had no idea what a personal bubble was, Bella's bubble was made out of ice.

So since Bella knew Eve so well, _so well_, she also knew when the little Witch was up to something. And Eve was _definitely _up to something.

It had been going on for a week, that's when the devious glint first entered those light eyes, when her cheerful smile turned into a mischievous smirk. Bella was a smart girl, there wasn't much you could put passed her, and not a whole heck of a lot of wool to pull over her eyes. She had been around for over five hundred years; she had learned to recognize all the patterns in life, learned how to read people, learned how to apply all the logic and information she had accumulated over the years to her own life and that around her.

So there was three things of which she was absolutely certain:

The first was that she was going to win this little game of Eve's that the girl was concocting.

The second was that it had something to do with the Cullens. Alice, presumably.

The third…she was starting to like Alice.

Bella knew herself pretty well, too. There was no maybe. No if. She _liked_ this vampire. She was also old enough to know that there was very little point in denial; it didn't change anything, and people who weren't strong enough to deal with things used it to placate themselves.

However, that didn't mean she was _okay_ with liking this vampire. Quite the opposite, really. There were a billion and one reason that this was a very _bad_ thing. The first; Bella didn't _like _people in general, why was she starting to now? Was something about her changing? Or was it Belle's influence? There was also the fact that Alice was a vampire. A sworn enemy. And she was a werewolf…well…a prison _holding_ a werewolf…there was a werewolf _somewhere_ in the equation, at least. If Belle found out she was keen on the little vampire, she didn't know what the Wolf would do. She also had no idea how to go about courting people anymore-

No!

Not that…not that that's something she _needs_ to know. Accepting she's in like with this vampire was one thing, but _acting_ on it was another. And she wasn't going to do that. For all those billion and one reasons. It would be utterly disastrous.

Resisting would be easy; she had half a dozen life times of practice over her control. A little crush was nothing, it wasn't like she was _in love_ with the vampire. She was barely in like with her, really. She had just…grown to like the way Alice said hi every morning. The pixie would dance over from her car or be waiting by Bella's spot and walk with her to her first class. Or the way that Alice eagerly awaited whatever she had to say, and listened like her thoughts were the most important thing at the moment. The bright little smile she always had on her face didn't hurt either. Nor did the way her eyes lit up when Bella looked over at her in the cafeteria. And she was really sweet, too. Sweet and polite. No one is polite anymore, people are just plain _rude_ everywhere you go.

All of those things often left Bella with this warm feeling in her chest, with a lightness about her. It made her smile and-

No. Bella would take those feelings, bottle them up, and bury them as deep as she could within herself.

…How much was she going to have to lock away in life?

She was so _sick_ of cages.

With a scowl that could rival Rosalie's, Bella crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against Ben's car. Eve had dragged her over to the small group that formed around the vehicle before school; Ben, Angela, Eric, Mike, and Tyler, though Tyler had been running late that morning and hadn't arrived yet. Eve was very excited about her new friends lately, and she found it much easier to thrust Bella upon them than upon the Cullens, who were also quickly becoming close friends.

And so, when the Witch had noticed the fancy cars pulling into their respective parking spots, she had grinned up at Bella and excused herself for a moment while she went over to say hello quickly. She promised she wouldn't be more than two seconds.

That was seven minutes ago.

Not that Bella had been counting.

No, she was having a _grand _time standing there awkwardly while the others talked about parties and tests and lunch time and movies. In fact, she had been _so_ enthralled that her mind could barely comprehend the wonders of their philosophical and intriguing conversation about the lunch lady's new Mystery Meat, that her dark eyes had wandered across the parking lot to Eve and the others.

Namely, the little pixie.

Her eyes had been doing that more and more often lately.

And thus her musing began as she watched the Witch talk in hushed tones with Alice while Emmett, the large one, boomed out a laugh now and then and Jasper, the blonde male, shook his head with a smirk and would glance up at her only to give a small wave.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

Bella almost jumped out of her skin at Isabelle's voice. It had been a little while since she had heard from the Wolf. She turned her dark brown eyes towards her ancestor before they flickered back over to the group. "I don't know."

She missed the look Ben gave her before turning back to his conversation.

Leaning back against the car next to her and crossing her arms, Belle hummed to herself. "Looks awfully _connivente. _Don't you want to know?"

"Patience is a virtue you obviously never learned, isn't it?" Bella asked, shaking her head. She watched as Alice said something with a thoughtful face and Eve lit up, nodding furiously. "She can't keep a secret, not from me. I'll know sooner or later."

"I am _so_ patient," Belle grumbled under her breath. "Patient like a fox." She sighed as the brunette continued to stare at the others, ignoring her again. Something was…different with Bella, she could tell. She had been a lot more…thoughtful, lately? Her head was up in the clouds and she was thousands of miles away. Something the girl had assumed, all these years, was a dangerous thing. She had thought it would make it easier for Belle to slip in and take control. The Wolf never bothered to mention it was actually the opposite. When her head was up in the clouds like that, she hardly even noticed the Wolf's presence, and Belle felt herself…not fade, but…she kind of felt almost like a ghost.

It wasn't a feeling she particularly liked.

The Wolf looked up at the sound of tires locking and starting to slide, her lips curling up at the look of utter horror crossing Tyler Crowley's face in his van halfway across the parking lot from them. Humans, so easily frightened. It made her chuckle every time. She glanced down at the patch of ice the van was sliding across, heading towards them, and looked to her side for the group of humans Bella was trying to "hang" with, or whatever she was doing. It looked like they had started heading inside a while ago and the Space Cadet next to her hadn't noticed.

Of course not, the girl was practically _glaring_ at the vampires. Especially the little one…

"Earth to Bella, come in, Bella," she cackled into her hand.

That van was starting to pick up speed as it slid at them. A few kids had even noticed and seemed to freeze, others gasping, while some pointed.

"Bella," Isabelle tried again with a roll of her eyes. Seriously, did this girl hit her head recently or something?

Even the vampires had noticed now and Eve screamed. Belle's eyes widened and she whirled around in front of Bella's face, waving her arms around. _"Bella!"_

The brunette furrowed her brows, glaring at the Wolf. "What do you-" She gasped, looking over Belle's shoulder at the van hurtling towards her. Everything else finally registered; Eve's screaming across the parking lot as well as a few other kids, Alice's horrified face as she stepped forward, reaching out, the pointing and gasping, and Tyler furiously trying to turn his wheel as he got closer and closer.

Her Fight or Flight instincts quickly kicked in, adrenaline pouring into her veins as her pupils dilated. There wasn't much time to do anything and so she did the first thing that came to mind, launching herself forward at the van, kicking up off the front bumper and rolled up the hood. The force of smashing into Ben's car nearly sent her through the windshield, though luckily it only caved in, her elbow punching through in the middle. For half a second she thought she was going to roll up and over the roof, but the sudden stop had her coming back down from the momentum. She rolled back down the caved in windshield and the hood, sliding over the roof of Ben's car, and landing in a heap on the ground beside it.

At first she didn't really feel anything. She didn't hear anything. She just stared up at the big grey sky and wondered if that looked as ridiculous as it felt. She tried to picture it in her head and felt the corner of her mouth curve up slightly.

The moment of peace faded and suddenly she was bombarded with everything; the blaring horn in her ear from Tyler's van, kids screaming and yelling and calling for help, Eve calling her name from somewhere in the parking lot. Her elbow was screaming in pain, burning fiercely, while the rest of her body throbbed from being tossed around like a rag doll. The back of her head felt…hot, and the edge of her vision was kind of blurry. She wasn't sure, but she thought she might have smacked the back of her skull on the pavement when landing. Or maybe against the windshield. Both?

Bright yellow eyes appeared over her, Belle's dark hair framing her face as she grinned down at the injured girl. "That looked like it stung a wee bit," she laughed. "Not like you haven't been through worse. Come on, up and at 'em." She said, motioning Bella to get up. The hurt brunette just groaned, blinking slowly. Isabelle's grin turned into a smirk. "Ah, what's this? Did the boy's big, bad van manage to unlatch my cage?"

With a growl of her own, Bella struggled to sit up, shaking her head. She gasped, gripping the sides of her head and closed her eyes.

Okay, do _not_ shake.

"Belle…" she warned with a dark tone. The black waves of unconsciousness threatened to pull her under and she gasped again. "Don't!"

"Bella! Holy crap, Bella, are you okay?!" Mike shouted, crouching down next to her. "You just… you ninja'd the shit out of that accident! It was so hot! I think-"

Mike abruptly stopped talking as Bella's hand shot out, grabbing a fist full of his coat and yanked him towards her. He gulped at the fiery look in her eyes. "My pills," she groaned.

"Wh-what pills?" He asked, looking up and around at the kids that started to crowd around them. "We called an ambulance, Bella. Just try to lay still until they get here."

She could hear Belle chuckling under her breath and closed her eyes again as the sky started spinning and Mike faded out. "My pills," she tried again. "In the car. Glove…box, Mike, get them _now_!"

He was shoved away and hesitated for just a second until he jumped to his feet and looked around for her Camaro. He hissed in pain, quickly grabbing the back of his head and turned around to look at the keys that landed on the ground behind him. With a pout, he grabbed them and ran for her car. When Mike had grabbed them and came back, he found Eve and Alice Cullen crouched next to Bella, while the girl squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists.

"Here," he said, falling to his knees on her other side and took out a couple pills. "Bella, I don't understand, they're tranquilizers. Shouldn't you be trying to stay awake?"

Again, Bella's hand shot out to the bottle and she quickly popped four pills. Her eyes opened and she blinked the dizziness away, trying to concentrate on steadying her hammering heart. "My watch," she whispered and looked up at Eve who was squeezing her hand. "Where's my watch?"

The Witch looked down, trying to read the thing. It looked frozen. "It's on your wrist but… I-I think it's broken?"

"_Figlio di una canna,_" she cursed. "How many am I going to go through this month?"

"Bella, a watch is hardly important at a time like this!" Alice gasped. "You were just…you could have been…you are _so_ lucky." She said and her voice shook. Her small, delicate hand reached out for Bella's and she tried not to flinch as the brunette pulled her own away quickly. "I was so scared, Bella."

She was going to ignore her. That was the smartest thing Bella could have done. It was what she had _planned_ to do. Ignore Alice. Distance herself. Build a wall between them. That way her feelings wouldn't deepen, at least.

Evidently, this day was _not_ going as planned, and instead she felt this sudden overwhelming desire to ease Alice's worries. To take that scared look from her eyes. To make the frown disappear from her face.

"I'm okay, Alice," she found herself saying.

The pixie slowly smiled a small smile. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the ambulance's sirens as it pulled up. She slowly got to her feet to give them room. "My father will take good care of you, Bella. I promise."

"Wait…" Bella tried to look around the men crowding her, trying to find those golden eyes again. "What? You…" The tranquilizers were starting to kick in and she was submerged in an ocean of drowsiness. "Hospital," she murmured, gazing up at the paramedics carefully lifting her onto the stretcher and putting a brace around her neck. "No!" She gasped again, jerking up into a sitting position. She idly reached for Eve as the Witch gazed up at her helplessly.

"Miss, lay back down and stop struggling!" One of the paramedics ordered, trying to wrestle her back onto the stretcher.

The other grunted, managing to slip the leather buckle around her wrist. "Miss, you need to calm down!" His face turned red as he fiddled with the buckle until her wrist was secured to the side. What was this girl on?

On her other side, the first paramedic glared holes into the side of the girl's face as she weakly cursed at him in…Italian? He finally wrapped the leather buckle around her wrist. He managed to duck in time, avoiding getting a forehead in the face as the girl tried to head-butt him. "Get her in the back. The adrenaline will wear off soon and she should calm down."

"Bella!" Eve said sternly, grabbing hold of her shoulders. She glared into those dark eyes. "Get a hold of yourself and calm down." She lowered her voice. "Before you-know-who decides to pop in."

Whatever the other girl said, it seemed to calm the brunette down immensely, one of the paramedics noticed. She took a deep breath before nodding, and laid back down on the stretcher. They kept the restraints on, just in case, and would advise the doctors to do the same.

Bella scowled again as she was loaded into the ambulance. "No blood tests," she told Eve who nodded, grabbing the keys from Mike.

_~CV~_

Wrapping her arms around her chest, Alice leaned against Edward as the ambulance sped off down the street, followed closely by the shiny black Camaro. The bronze haired boy squeezed her to his side, leaning down to her ear. "You should go hunt and blow off some of that…everything." He could hear her thoughts racing a mile a second; she didn't know whether to be relieved, worried, furious, scared, upset, or guilty. Mostly guilty, because she hadn't seen the accident before hand.

Alice nodded, taking a deep breath through her nose. "Okay," she agreed.

Just as she moved, Rosalie's voice stopped her. "Mike is right," she murmured. The others glanced at her curiously and she hummed, looking at all the broken glass around Ben's car. She nodded at it. "Those were…impressive reflexes for a human. There was no hesitancy or uncertainty, her body knew how to react when being attacked. That is unusual, to say the least."

"What are you getting at?" Alice snapped, a little too harshly.

She still had all these pent up emotions trying to explode out of her.

The blonde looked down at her sister and gave her an almost smile. "Nothing, Alice. Just thinking aloud, I didn't mean to keep you from your hunt."

"I'll go with ya, Tink." Emmett said, placing a massive hand on the pixie's shoulder. "Didn't much feel like going to class anyways."

The two walked off across the parking lot and out of sight before blurring away.

Rosalie, Edward, and Jasper all stood in the parking lot while teachers tried to regain order of the students, all of them staring at the van and car. Jasper tilted his head to the side, tapping his chin in thought. "Bella is different," he mused.

"Obviously," Edward agreed with a nod, sliding his hands into his pockets. "But how different?"

The three frowned simultaneously and Rosalie crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes narrowing. "Dangerously?"

Jasper tried to deny it, trying to abolish that idea completely, right away. This was Alice's mate. She wasn't dangerous to them. She was going to be family. But…

"I honestly don't know."

_~CV~_

"Ah, if it isn't the infamous Bella. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Doctor Cullen said, holding out his pale hand.

Dark eyes peered up at him curiously before Bella gave a pointed look to her wrist that was buckled to the bed. Carlisle smiled sheepishly, his golden eyes crinkling while he ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Infamous?" She questioned.

"Yes," he nodded. "My daughter speaks very highly of you. Esme and I have been eagerly awaiting an introduction. I am sorry it had to be under such circumstances as these, however." His smile was bright, kind, friendly.

Bella's eyes narrowed. "Which daughter?"

The doctor's brows furrowed as he frowned slightly. "My…Alice, of course. Are you close with Rosalie as well?"

"I'm close with neither of your daughters, Dr. Cullen." She said, blinking up at him.

With a small chuckled, Carlisle began to unbuckle the restraints on Bella's wrist. "Right. They warned me about this."

"About what?"

"You," he replied, grabbing the chart off the end of the bed. "And your straightforward nature. You got in a car accident?"

The brunette relaxed back against the bed, crossing her arms over her chest as she sized the doctor up. She briefly wondered how old he was. If she had to guess, she'd say younger than her, by at least one century. She didn't like it when people younger than her treated her like a child, which they all did as she appeared to be in her early twenties. Still, she couldn't stand it and it always took great effort not to do something about it. "Dancing around with half-truths is a waste of everyone's time." She said, looking down to her hands. They were scraped up. "And it wasn't really a car accident. A van slid into the car I was standing in front of."

"I see you made it out in one piece, if not a little scathed." He took out a little light in his pocket, leaning down to flash it in each of her eyes. "I didn't mean to insinuate that a straightforward nature is a bad thing, Bella. It can just be…blunt sometimes. Not everyone can deal with you and Rosalie as easily as we do." He turned off his flashlight and put it back into his pocket to write something down. "How did you avoid the collision?"

"I jumped," she replied with a shrug. She waited until she could catch those golden eyes again, studying them for a moment. "You think we're tactless."

He knew he was caught and Bella didn't seem like the kind of person who appreciated being lied to. "Maybe just a little bit," he grinned sheepishly again. "You jumped?"

Sighing, Bella rolled her eyes. "Into the windshield, rolled down the hood, and off the roof of the other car." She looked back up at him sharply, scowling. "You people just don't seem to understand the respect I'm showing you with my _blunt_," she used air quotes. "Nature. Would you all prefer I treat you as a child, lie to your face, coddle you in conversation?"

"You two really _will_ get along," Carlisle laughed quietly. "I think for most people today, they would appreciate you respecting their feelings more than respecting their intelligence. Although, I, myself, would prefer both but I am to understand that this _isn't _ a perfect world, yes?"

"Why?" She asked.

"Why what?"

"Why are feelings more important to people than intelligence?" She shook her head, wincing as it throbbed.

Carlisle gently reached back there, lightly feeling around for a bump. "You hit your head?" He felt her nod. "They're stronger, I think. Emotions, I mean. They mean more because we experience them more. Think of it this way; when someone doesn't respect _your_ intelligence, it upsets you, yes?"

"Yes," Bella nodded slowly.

"See? Even when you think it's about intelligence, it's really about emotions." He slowly began to press on Bella's legs, up and up and up, watching for when she winced. Nothing was broken but there were quite a few bruises. And a nasty goose-egg on the back of her head. Other than that and a few scrapes here and there, she was alright. It was mostly those tranquilizers that had given her a spin, but oddly enough hadn't knocked her out cold. She wouldn't let him see who prescribed them either.

He gave her a clean bill of health and helped her to her feet, walking with her to the door. "Alright, take three of these every six hours for the headache and bruise pains, and you should be set, Bella." She nodded looking down at the pills and then back up at Carlisle, watching him curiously. "It was a pleasure meeting you today and I look forward to the next time. At the house, of course, and perhaps a little more willingly." He glanced back at the restraints and smiled.

"You're right," Bella said suddenly. Carlisle gave her a curious look and she gestured back into the room. "Before, what you were saying about emotions. I…I will try to be more tactful in my bluntness. This world could use a little more perfect."

With another, warmer smile, Carlisle nodded and patted her shoulder. "It really could, Bella."

_~CV~_

"Are you sure you're okay, Bella?" Eve asked, glancing worriedly at the brunette sitting on the couch, staring into the empty fire place like it held all the answers in the world. "I mean, you _did_ almost go through that windshield and it takes a lot to _break_ one of those."

She finished pouring Bella's scotch and brought it over to her, along with the ice pack she had grabbed from the kitchen on her way to the living room. She handed them both to her friend who was still staring into the fire pit, but didn't look so far away anymore. "Thank you," she muttered, sipping her drink and pressing the ice pack against the back of her head. Her dark brown eyes fluttered shut. "And I am fine, just a little sore."

"If you say so," the Witch nodded, sitting down next to Bella. She glanced out one of the large windows, noticing the grey sky getting darker and darker. The sun was setting behind it, they were running out of time, and Eve was ninety percent sure it had completely slipped Bella's mind today. She nervously bit her lip and rested her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Bella?"

"Hm,"

"Do you know what day it is?"

Opening her eyes to glance at Eve, Bella frowned. "Monday," she answered. Did Eve think she had brain damage or something? "It's just a little bump, Eve. I told you, I'm fine."

"No, no," she shook her head. "I meant the date. The number."

Bella lowered the ice pack, confused. "Well it's the-" Her eyes widened exponentially and the glass slid from her hand, bouncing off her lap and smashing on the hardwood floor by their feet. "It's the full moon tonight."

"I-I'm sorry! Here, let me get this for you." Eve said quickly, slipping off the couch to start picking up the larger pieces of glass. "I didn't mean to upset you, I just thought you might have forgotten and that would have been _really_ dangerous. Especially with the Cullens so close."

The brunette took the shards of glass from Eve's hands, placing them on the coffee table, and got to her feet. She gently pulled the girl up with her. "How much time do we have?"

Again, the Witch looked out the window, frowning. "I can't see the sun. Ten minutes, maybe? More? Less? I don't know."

"Are you ready?" Bella asked seriously, ducking to catch those light eyes. She waited until Eve nodded firmly, and then turned to leave the living room. "Alright, it's the first time in this house. If anything goes wrong, just leave. Take the fastest car in the garage and _run_."

Eve watched the brunette pull off her coat, her sweater, take off her belt, and kick off her shoes all down the hallway. The stairs creaked as they went down through the basement and into the cellar beneath, a wet…kinda musty scent filling the air. It smelled like earth, and Eve _hated_ going into the cellars. She felt like she was being buried alive. Maybe because they _were_ underground, so there was no windows, no breathing room, everything was cold and stone and hard and _so_ unfriendly.

She couldn't even imagine how Bella felt down here.

They finally reached the stone door of the Wolf Room, as Eve had started dubbing them, and walked inside. She felt slightly better in the open space, but not by much. Her gut was churning with the knowledge of what was to come. No matter how muffled by the earth, the stone, the stories of the house, and the music she blasted, she could always _just_ hear the screams. And the dogs. The dogs crying was just a kick to the heart every time.

With focused determination, Bella strode over to the small refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. There were herbs crushed up inside, little pieces floating around, like seeds in lemonade and if she pretended, that's what it was. Lemonade. Nothing more. Nothing less. She reached back in and grabbed a bowl of water, much the same as the bottle, and brought them both over to the middle of the room where Eve had a pair of sweats and an old tank top waiting.

Her fingers trembled as she pulled off her nice tee shirt and new jeans, slipping into the old clothes. "Okay, you can wait over by the door now." She said, nodding to the stone door all across the room.

Eve hesitated a second. "I'm sorry, Bella."

It was something she said every time, and she knew it didn't help, didn't lessen the pain or stop the Wolf, but she couldn't _not_ say it.

Bella nodded, forcing a reassuring smile and watched the Witch walk over to the door. She took a deep breath, picking up the largest shackle and closed it around her middle, grimacing at the tight squeeze. It wasn't nearly big enough for the Wolf, but once locked, it could stretch open, silver chains inside holding it together still, as did the wrists, ankles, and neck shackles. The silver part of the chains kept the Wolf from struggling too much and breaking them, or trying to rip them off. It was like trying to grab fire for it. But the rest of the shackles, as they were now, were just iron, for Bella. She knew from experience, if she touched pure silver, it was…

Horrifying, to say the least.

She bent down, closing the shackles around her ankles, grabbed the one for her neck and swallowed against it. The iron was cool against her heated skin. She went back to the water before her wrists, knowing she wouldn't be able to reach them in the shackles, and grabbed the bowl. Inside was a necklace with an enormous chain. A heavy metal that wouldn't break so easily, soaked in Wolfsbane.

Grimacing, Bella grabbed it from the water, hissing as her hand turned red and quickly slipped it on. Next was the bottle and she unscrewed the lid before she could think about it and chicken out.

Eve flinched, looking away. She had heard somewhere, from her Wiccan community, TV, or maybe Bella herself, that drinking Wolfsbane was like trying to "chug battery acid".

The water bottle fell to the ground as Bella choked, forcing herself to swallow and shook her head. She was breathing deeply, sweat already making the tank top cling to her skin, her eyes ablaze with fire. She reached up to her lip, undoing the piercing, or lock as Eve called them, and tossing it to the Witch. She grunted, keeling over quickly as she felt the Wolf ram against its cage inside. Bella took another deep breath, reaching for the little plaque on her tongue, squeezing her eyes shut against the Wolf again. Finally she took out the eyebrow piercing and tossed it to the floor by Eve's feet, collapsing to her knees while she forced her shaking hands to do up the shackles around her wrists.

"Go, Eve! Now!" She ground out, glaring down at the stone floor beneath her knees.

The Witch didn't have to be told twice and turned around, running out of the room. She slammed the heavy stone door shut, locking the handle that was on this side. Normally that wouldn't work for a Werewolf, but Bella also had the brilliant idea of taking off the handle on the inside and cementing the hole over. If the Wolf wanted out of the room, it was going to have to try and smash through the stone.

Neither of them were too confident that it _couldn't_, however.

"Oh!" Bella gasped, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

It was going to be bad.

It was going to be _reeeeally_, really bad. She could feel it. The Wolf going to get back at her for the new piercings, the locks, and it was going to enjoy it.

Bella's muscles tensed in anticipation, taking three quick, shallow breaths as her heart pounded in her ears.

She was ready.

_~CV~_

Eve jumped, closing her eyes and hugging the couch cushion to her chest at the first scream. She quickly reached out, grabbing the remote on the coffee table, and started cranking the volume up until she could feel in on her skin.

Shadow, Katerina, and Bandit all looked at the hallway, their ears perking up. Seconds later they all raised their snouts, howling into the air.

The Witch buried her face into the cushion, humming as loud as she could.

Even the other dogs were whimpering and crying.

This was going to be a long night.

_~CV~_

**Author's Note**_: I am soooooo sorry for how long that took. Quite a bit has gone down since the last chapter. At first, Miss Paige was having "inspiration troubles" and deemed everything she wrote crap. Madness, I know! After that she had some computer troubles and couldn't get on her laptop or PC. Then she went and got a job -congratulations!- and the rest was mostly me. I had some troubles of where to take this story. I wasn't sure quite where I was going with it! But then just the other day, I had the most amazing idea ever, so now we're going to run with it! Stick with me people, I promise not to disappoint!_

_Unless you're one of those people who don't like this Bella. You know who you are. I'm sorry you don't like her and you're "waiting for her to become more likeable" but I'm afraid you'll be waiting for a loooong time. This is Bella. This is who she is. That's her personality, her character. It's not going to magically change anytime soon. As the story progresses, you'll get a deeper look into her mind. The reasons and causes for a personality such as hers. And as her relationship with Alice develops, there _will_ be SOME changes. Sides to her she never knew she had. Warmer. Softer. Kinder._

_But basically I think Miss Paige has done a wonderful job creating my sullen Bella, and I don't want her to change. If you're looking for a quirky, funny, brighter, happy-go-lucky Bella, then check out her own stuff. _

_As for the actual story and chapter; I know you are all eager for the Bellice interaction! So am I! But we must first build up to it for it to be satisfying, yes? Next chapter, Alice stops by to see how Bella is doing and finds a few surprises. The Cullens start piecing things together and realizing they don't quite add up around Bella and Eve._

_Stay tuned and review please!_

_~Velve_


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Twilight._

**Rated: **_T._

**Author: **_Crushing Velvet._

**Beta:** _xPaige Turnerx. Whom I'm borrowing Eve from._

**Summary: **_Alternate Universe. Alice/Bella. "There are ways to escape any prison, whether it be a grand scheme, or just sitting there chipping away at the walls. In this case, however, I was her prison and the walls were my sanity, that she had been chipping at for FAR too long."_

_Seattle, Washington._

The early morning sunlight poured into the mansion from the windows, bathing the rooms in a tingly warmth Seattle hadn't felt in a few weeks, nor would feel in another eight days. It stretched across the floor of the living room, reaching out towards the coffee table and couch, reflecting off the glasses and antiques of the room, the pictures and frames, shining into Katerina's eyes. The wolf huffed sleepily to herself, turning her face away and closing her yellow eyes again to rest.

Her pack mates were all asleep as well, Bandit and Shadow curled up on the lazy boy recliner together; Bandit's back legs sticking in the air with his belly exposed while Shadow curled around his brother protectively. Bear and Butch both monopolized the couch, stretching out and leaving room for little else as they snored softly, while Duke took up the love seat, his paws hanging off the ends, his face buried under a cushion.

Behind the couch slept Rupert and Eve, the Witch laying back against the enormous dog's side while he curled around her and rested his head on his front paws. She had burrowed back in his soft fur, a big ass silver machete in her lap, watching the hallway that lead to the stairs to the basement. As the hours ticked by with the dogs crying and howling, eventually sleep overcame her and the Witch drifted off.

The mansion was quiet, peaceful in the morning. Not a single bird chirped, no mouse scurrying about. The grandfather clock ticked away in the background, almost drowned out by the deep breathing of everyone in the room. There was no closer moment to tranquility than that, in that instant, where time seemed to stop and the universe stilled.

Until the clock struck seven, and seven loud clangs rang out throughout the house, vibrating off the walls and echoing down the halls.

Eve gasped, shooting up into a sitting position with the machete held up over her head in shaking hands, ready to be wildly swung at the first thing that moved. "I will cut you!" She shrieked at no one in particular, her words slurred from sleep while she furiously blinked away the drowsiness from her mind. Rupert raised his head, touching his nose to her cheek and she looked over at him, smiling sheepishly. "Oh right."

Bones creaked as she got to her feet, stretching her tired limbs while an ungodly noise came from her stomach. She yawned, looking around the room while she sheathed the silver machete on her belt again, shaking her head. "Some guard dogs you are, sleeping on the job! Sheesh!" She threw her hands in the air, walking down the hallway with Katerina trailing after her. "Someone could have broken in here, _stolen_ Old Georgie and other priceless valuables."

The stairs creaked under their legs as they slowly descended into the basement, wrinkling their noses at the musty scent. "Bleh," the Witch made gagging faces all the way down towards the Wolf Room. "If she got out sometime during the night, I'm blaming _you_!" She whisper yelled at Katerina, grabbing the handle of the machete. "Bella?" She called louder. "Is Cujo gone? Can we come in?"

She twisted the handle of the stone door, throwing her weight against it to push open. Eve stuck her arm in with the blade in her hand, waving it up and down. "We have silver…"

When only silence responded to her, Eve pushed the door open even more and slowly crept in. She sighed sadly at the scene before her and sheathed the machete again before approaching her ragged best friend.

Her dark hair was a mess; wild and chaotic, with more red in it than usual, the dark tresses spilling over her shoulders and tangled in the chains. That was the best of it, as far as Eve could tell. The rest…she tried not to focus on details, but it was hard. Bella's skin was deathly pale and clammy, sweat dripping from it and making it shine in the light. The bags under her eyes had bags, all a dark, dark purple that almost looked black. Her lips were dry and cracked, white against her skin save for the dried blood on them, the teeth inside looking sharper, the canines longer and more wolf like. The girl's eyes themselves were bloodshot as she lifted her head to look up at Eve, specs of yellow still floating within the dark irises, and Eve had to look away quickly when she felt the Wolf gazing at her from beneath.

"You weren't lying when you said the Wolf would get back at you for the locks… I'm so sorry, Bella." Eve said gently, working on the first shackle. Her light eyes lingered on the gashes, the claw marks and bite marks the girl had. Some of them were still bleeding. There were four down her face, from her eyebrow, across her nose, down the corner of her lips, and to her jaw. As if the Wolf raked its claws down its own face, leaving them for her. There were a handful of bites along her arms, her knuckles scratched up and grooves in the cement beneath her feet, probably from the wolf pounding on the ground. Her naked torso was covered in scratches, deeper than the ones on her face, bruises littering her ribs.

The Witch unlocked the shackle around Bella's neck and the other wrist, catching the girl in her arms as she collapsed. "Oh god…what have you been eating, Bella…rocks?" She wheezed and huffed, managing to get the unconscious girl over her shoulder so she could unlock her ankles and midsection. She stuck her tongue out, stretching her arm forward to reach the final shackle, slowly twisting the key and trying to work it. "Right…there…and - oh!"

Bella slid off Eve's shoulder, falling in a heap on the floor with a thud. The Witch grimaced, leaning over her friend to inspect the damage. "We'll just say that was from the wolf too," she mumbled to herself, hoisting Bella back up again.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Call: Eve**

**Sucks to your ass-mar, Pixie Feet. Bella's sick today, so you can't ride off into that sunset together or split a milkshake at the spiffy eighties diner. Whatever it is you couple-y kids do these days. Sorry, home-slice. **

Alice frowned up at her phone, turning over and laying properly in her bed. "Sick?" She quickly pocketed her phone, going over the extent of the girl's injuries from the accident. Carlisle had given her the details to ease her mind, and nothing sprang forward from her memory as a reason for any illness. No concision that would leave her nauseous or dizzy, no open wounds to get infected, nothing of the sort. Was her luck just that bad, that she would get sick right after having suffered an accident?

"Esme?" Alice called as she walked into her closet, pursing her lips as she searched for a nice outfit Bella would like. Maybe a skirt? No, not the right weather…

A moment later Esme knocked on the wall beside the door of the closet, peeking around and smiling at her daughter. "You called?"

"Yes, I was just wondering if we have any soup in the kitchen?" Alice asked, grabbing a sweater and holding it up to her.

The motherly vampire shook her head, blurring over and bringing down a long, tight black tee shirt. "Soup? For what?" She scanned the shelves, her golden eyes landing on a pair of light faded skinny jeans.

"Bella is sick, so I thought I would stop by and surprise her with some soup. Make sure she's okay, tend to her while Eve is at school." With an excited smile, she dashed forward and grabbed a pair of her deep crimson heels. Even wearing those, Bella would tower over her. The girl was tall for a human, standing at five foot eleven. "I just…" She frowned, looking up at her mother. "I want to make her better again."

Smiling softly, Esme guided Alice back out of her closet, setting her clothes on the bed. "A vampire craves to nurture and protect their mate when they're hurt or less than one hundred percent. I don't imagine I could stop you even if I tried. But try to remember not to rush the girl, she's only human, Alice."

"Patience is my middle name!" Alice saluted as her mother left her room.

The woman laughed, shaking her head down the hallway. "Everyone in the house knows you're the least patient of us all, my girl!"

**.**

**.**

**.**

"It's a good thing we had that chicken in the fridge, thawing out for dinner, eh?" Eve asked, grimacing as she watched Bella rip one of the wings off and start chewing on it. "Although I really don't think it would have hurt to _cook_ the thing first…salmonella and all that…might be prettier to watch, too…"

Yellow specced, dark eyes flickered up at the Witch, making her jump. Bella grunted and went back to eating like a starving man, desperately trying to fill the burning, aching void in her stomach. It was always the same after full moons, double accounts of the Wolf burning through absolutely everything in Bella's body, and remnant traces _of_ the Wolf still lingering. Either way, her body needed, _hungered_ for meat. For iron.

The jingle of her phone brought Eve's attention down to her lap, rolling her eyes at the message Ben sent her. The boy had some odd theories, and this just further supported her own theory that he was stoned more often than not. "School's going to start soon, so I thought I'd quickly help you shower and then take the Camaro to - _hey!_" The Witch's hand shot out and she clenched it into a fist, pulling it back to her chest. Two plates on the other side of the table followed, sliding down to her own end. "I've been marinating these bad-boys for _ages_! You've got free reign of the chicken, the pork, the duck, and even the turkey, but the steaks are mine."

"I _need_ them!" Bella snarled, her voice rough and dark, more animalistic than usual.

Eve stuck her chin in the air and crossed her arms over her chest. "No. There are more in the freezer downstairs, feel free, but I've been looking forward to these since yesterday morning. They are…perfection, Bella. Perfection. You can't have."

"Give them to me or I'll take them from you," the brunette threatened fiercely. Her eyes flashed and Eve swore those specs got bigger. The blood on her teeth from the other raw and bleeding meats she was eating didn't boost Eve's confidence.

However, these steaks were going to taste like magic. She knew it. They were beautiful just to look at. "Not in a box. Not with. A. Fox." The girl stated firmly, holding her ground.

Another snarl erupted from Bella's chest as she threw herself from the table and towards Eve. The Witch flinched but made no other movements, knowing what would happen and watched as it did. Bella gasped, the pain snapping her from her rage as the muscles in her legs and lower body seized, burning like they were on fire as she collapsed to her knees. She held onto the side of the table, crying out as the rest of her body was lit aflame in pain. "Eve!"

"Come on, I think it's time for a nice cold shower. You can finish your feast afterwards." She said, walking around the table and lifting Bella's arm around her shoulders. She supported most of the ragged girl's weight as they left the kitchen, making their way towards the stairs with the dogs all trailing after them.

"Now can I have your steaks?"

"Haaa-no."

**.**

**.**

**.**

The brunette scowled at Eve across the room, standing at the bar with her cane in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. True, it was too early to start drinking, but nobody else just had a damn dog ripped out of them and then shoved back in. Bella felt justified in her beverage of choice for the day. "I don't need you babying me like I'm some kind of incapable…infant." Her voice was still rough and scratchy, the bags under her eyes less severe but still around. Her hair was combed out and washed, her wounds bandaged up, the gashes on her face cleaned out and starting to heal. It was still just her strength she was trying to get back.

"Huh," Eve tapped her chin in thought. "I don't _recall_ burping you over my shoulder after you ate or sticking my elbow in the shower to check the temperature."

Bella gave her a look.

"Okay, I'll give you that one but I didn't want to scald _myself_. I wasn't checking for you." She said with a huff, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

Grimacing at the pain it caused, Bella turned her back to Eve and walked over to the fire place. "Go to school, slacker."

"I'd say 'make me' but we both know you'd lose that fight right now, so I'll do you a favour and not hurt your wolf-y pride," Eve grinned.

"I'm not a wolf!"

"Love you too, Bella!" She called over her shoulder, swinging the door closed behind her. Eve took a deep breath, rubbing her hands together before she reached in her pocket and grabbed the keys. "I feel a need coming on. A need," her eyes darted over to the slick camaro sitting outside the garage and her lips curled up again. "for _speed_."

**.**

**.**

**.**

With furrowed brows, Alice raised her hand to knock on the polished wood door before her, a steaming hot cup of soup in her other one. This grand old mansion that stood before her was frightening. Well, not to her, there wasn't much around that could actually frighten the future seeing vampire, but she now understood why the old place hadn't been sold in nearly forty years. The place had gargoyles, for goodness sake, on each stone post on either side of the entrance to the driveway. The iron gate was sharp, black, and almost sinister. The red colour of the mansion was old, fading in the corners, with two more smaller gargoyles on either side of the stone steps up to the door. The windows were large and old, tinted so you couldn't see inside very well, nor could you see a reflection of yourself, and some had bars in them.

However, as frightening as the mansion was, it was also beautiful. It was short and wide, rather than tall and bulky looking, with sharp points and angles. The garage was separate and farther into the yard, nearly as long as the house. There was a beautiful fountain in the yard, enormous trees, shrubbery, and what looked like an old fashion rose garden, with other less…scary stone sculptures in the yards. Bears, lions, wolves, and foxes.

Alice rapped on the door lightly, distracted by the sheer sight of Bella and Eve's home. She was startled into focus by barking on the other side of the door and instinctively took a step back from it. It sounded too much like the wolves from the pack just outside of Forks. They were getting nastier and nastier over the years, to the point that the Cullens had just stopped returning to the small town, and moved out into the city of Seattle.

She was suddenly glad that the wolves had become such territorial, bigoted bastards. They'd driven her and her family right into her mate's path.

Wait. If Bella was sick, maybe she couldn't get out of bed? Couldn't answer the door? Was she trying to pull her weak body out of bed just to answer the door for her?

Twisting the door knob slowly, Alice poked her head inside. "Bella?" She called, stepping inside. She gasped, throwing herself back against the door as a large pack of dogs came charging at her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop! Heel! Sit!"

Thankfully they did stop before tackling her right out the door, but what they didn't cease to do was make all that noise. Alice winced, each bark ringing in her ears, bouncing around in her head. "Enough!"

Alice sighed in relief as they all fell silent, looking up with a bright smile on her face. "Than-ohmygod." She jerked forward, reaching out for Bella and only stopped when the girl flinched. "Bella…what…" She had to swallow down a dark growl, looking away as she felt her eyes darken. "Who did this?"

The brunette tilted her head to the side as she watched the vampire. She could hear the growl in her chest and in her voice, had seen her eyes flash. Alice wasn't particularly good at hiding her secret, anyone could see she was more than human, a dangerous predator if they looked closer. And yet, she wasn't scared. Didn't have that gut churning feeling that she was in danger. "The car accident," she answered quietly. "I've never met anyone who's come out of one unscathed yet."

"No…" Alice's mind reeled, going back to what Carlisle had told her after Bella left the exam room. A few bumps and bruises, but otherwise untouched. He gave her his word! Had he lied to her? No, no he wouldn't do that. And when she and Eve ran to Bella's side after... "You didn't have those scratches on your face yesterday. They look like they're from some kind of animal…" Her amber eyes flickered down to the dogs by their feet.

Red knuckles, scratched and bashed up, came into view as Bella quickly waved away her train of thought. "My dogs didn't hurt me. I was hit by a van yesterday, Alice, I wish it didn't turn out like this," she waved up at her face, wincing as her ribs throbbed. "But it did. Now is there something you need from me?"

Alice huffed at the annoyed and slightly defensive tone of Bella's voice. "Eve said you were sick, so I brought you some soup." She held up the cup, wiggling it in her hand.

The brunette's face softened quite a bit, her eyes flickering away to the corner of the hallway as she scratched the back of her neck. "Oh. That was," she cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable. "That was thoughtful. Um, thank you." Alice smiled warmly, stepping even closer to her as she looked up at those dark eyes. "But unnecessary. I can't accept the soup, I'm not really sick. Just, uh, just weak."

Puffing her bangs out of her eyes, Alice cocked her hip out, levelling the stubborn girl a look. "How did I know you'd be difficult about accepting things from people? You are the most unsociable person I've ever met, Bella."

"Perhaps you're just too kind. Maybe you shouldn't offer your soup out so casually," Bella grumbled back. She waved at the dogs, turning around and started limping back down the hall, the animals dispersing into different rooms along the way. Alice quickly followed the girl, not eager to leave her presence just yet.

Alice quickly caught up to her mate, smiling brightly again. "This is a beautiful old mansion. It must have cost you a pretty penny to buy."

"Not really," Bella replied. She tapped her cane against the wooden floor beneath her feet, nostalgia filling her chest as an image of her old dog, Drake, ran scampering down the hall ahead of her when she first moved in after it was built all those years ago. "It's been in the family for quite a few generations."

"Oh yeah? One of those houses that could tell quite the stories if the walls could talk, eh?" Alice joked, ignoring her phone vibrating in her pocket. She already knew it was Edward, and that he wanted to talk to her about something very important involving Eve and Bella. She also knew he had a tendency to overreact, and frankly she was just sick of not being around her mate.

Bella chuckled and Alice couldn't help but find it almost dark, menacing. "You wouldn't believe the things this mansion has seen."

**.**

**.**

**.**

"So what happened to Bella? I heard she's in a coma after Tyler crushed her with his van!" Another random student asked, turning around in his seat to inquire about the stoic girl.

Eve sighed, her chin in her palm with her elbow on the desk in front of her. She rolled her light eyes, looking up at Edward who had a small smile in the corner of his mouth. "No," she grumbled, tired of this question. It was the umpteenth time someone had demanded to know what happened. Not even to make sure her friend was okay. Just so that they were the first ones to know, and start the chain of gossip. "She's perfectly fine, just a couple of bumps and bruises."

"Oh." The kid frowned, turning back to face his own desk again.

A thought occurred to the Witch half a second later and she grinned before wiping the smirk from her face, schooling her features into a neutral mask. "Although…" The kid whipped back around, eager to hear more news. "Well, this might sound kind of weird, but…no, you wouldn't believe me."

"No, I would! What? What happened?" He insisted eagerly. He could practically smell juicy gossip on the tip of her tongue!

Bleh. The kid was almost foaming at the mouth for it. Eve leaned back away from him, looking around suspiciously before lowering her voice. "Don't tell anyone this, but Bella says she's been seeing things."

"Seeing things? What kinds of things?" He asked, furrowing his brows.

"Apparently-" She coughed into her hand, smothering a laugh and cleared her throat. She shook her head, trying to keep her voice serious. "Apparently Bella saw her grandmother in the living room the other day. She swears up and down she saw her, but I was right there." She leaned in close, her eyes wide in fright. "I didn't see anything, and her grandmother's been dead for twenty three years!"

"No way!" The kid gasped. Edward shook his head, never ceasing to be surprised at how gullible people were these days. "You don't think she's seeing, like, dead people, do you?"

The Witch brushed off eraser shavings from her paper, shifting in her seat. "That's what came to mind when _I_ thought about it, too. So I did some research, looked up old stories and legends, different myths and what have you." The kid nodded, leaning closer again. "People have posted stories about themselves, or people they know, technically being dead for a few minutes. Whether they almost drowned, or operations nearly taking a deadly turn. Things like that. And afterwards they've always been…different. Not totally who they were before hand. Usually they see things, people, who no one else can. Sometimes they're relatives that have long been dead, other times they're just shadow-y strangers."

"Did Bella die?!" The kid nearly screamed. Everyone in the room jumped, including Edward and Eve themselves, and he blushed, apologizing quietly. "Did she?"

"You know how Alice and I ran over to make sure Bella was okay?" Eve continued and the boy nodded furiously. "Well _someone_ didn't have a pulse."

The pen Edward was writing with flung off into the aisle, skidding under another student's desk as he froze.

Eve snorted, unable to help herself from chuckling a little bit. This was just too fun. She started gathering her things up, tucking her papers into her text book and tucked her pen behind her ear as she got up with the bell. "This has been fun, gentlemen. Next time, I'm bringing tea."

Watching the pale girl dance out of the room, Edward pulled out his phone, waiting for his little sister to pick up. By the time he got to the hallway and she still didn't answer, it became clear she was ignoring him and he huffed, stopping next to Rosalie's locker as she rummaged around for her gym bag. "Something's…off about Eve. And Bella, for that matter."

The blonde nodded, closing her locker and leaning back against it. Her golden eyes searched through the sea of students around them, landing on the white hair of Eve. "They know what we are." She asked, though it came out more like a statement. She'd had a feeling for a while, that these humans weren't as…ignorant as the others in school.

"I think so," Edward agreed, frowning deeply. "How?"

"Someone's broken the law. They've let humans that know live." Rosalie clenched her fists, growling lowly. "And now we're going to be held responsible. And one of them is Alice's mate! Great, this is so wonderful, Edward! Our sister finally finds her mate, only for the Volturi to kill us all."

Edward shook his head. "We didn't break the law, Rose. Whoever let them find out, or told them is responsible."

"Don't be so naive, _Eddie_," The blonde hissed, storming down the hallway with her brother trailing after her. "They Volturi won't care about technicalities. We're all dead."

"Unless we kill them or change them."

**.**

**.**

**.**

Dark eyes stared hard at the marble countertop in front of them, trying to refrain from looking up to meet golden ones. "Was there something else you need from me, other than the soup?"

"I wouldn't turn down your company," Alice replied brightly, sitting on the barstool at the kitchen island with Bella. She watched as the girl frowned deeply, slowly crossing her arms over her chest. "You know, Bella, sometimes I feel like I'm the last person in the world you want to be around."

The brunette flinched at the hurt in Alice's voice and looked up to see the wounded look in her eyes. She bit her lip, clenching her fists tightly. She felt like apologizing. "Oh." But if she didn't, if she hurt Alice's feelings, maybe the vampire would leave her alone. The _likeness_ would fade, Eve could finish school, and the two could move on. Forget about Alice.

"Do you not like me or something?" Alice asked, feeling her chest constrict painfully. Her worst fear was slowly but surely coming true. After all those years, finally, _finally_, finding her mate only for them to not like her? Bella chewed on her lip, seemingly ignoring the pixie and Alice's hand flew up to her heart, squeezing her eyes shut tightly at the searing pain. "I see," she breathed out, her voice sounding strangled. "I apologize for whatever I did to cause this. I'll just… I'll get out of your hair. Sorry."

Bella watched Alice stagger from the barstool and her hand rose up, to stop her. She paused, feeling that humming thicken, deepen. Becoming tangible. It made her skin tingle, pricking at her fingers the closer she got to Alice. Bella glared at her hand, quickly retracting it back to her chest. This…this couldn't be.

It was just a legend.

It wasn't real, not possible.

She wasn't even a wolf!

Those brown eyes glared at Alice's back as she left the kitchen, and Bella snatched the cup of soup from the countertop, hurling into the sink as she breathed deeply. It wasn't possible! No! No, the vampire must have…been giving out some kind of weird charge into the air or something. The humming wasn't - no. No.

Alice was not her _Cor Meum_, she didn't even have one. She wasn't a wolf.

Those pained golden eyes flashed in her mind again and she hissed in pain as she slid off the stool, grabbing her cane. "Alice," she called out. "Alice, wait. It's not that I don't like you. I just," she ground her teeth together as her ribs jarred and leaned against the wall in the hallway. Alice was at the end, putting on her coat. She pushed on down the hallway. "Alice, wait."

"No, I get it, Bella. I've been trying to force this friendship on you when you don't even like me. It was rude of me. I'm sorry." Alice said, taking a deep breath. Why did it have to hurt so much?

The pixie grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it open and Bella sighed deeply. She just wanted to curl up in her bed and sleep for the next year. Why did her life have to be full of so much drama? "Alice," she frowned at the humming again, pushing through it to grab Alice's shoulder. But the closer and closer she got, the more the humming seeped into her chest, building up around her heart. The muscle was vibrating with it, clenching painfully and Bella felt a vicious growl claw its way up her throat. She didn't know if it was the wolf or her, either.

Her fingertips brushed against Alice's shoulder and for a second there was nothing. Just her hand on the girl's shoulder, and Bella let out a relieved breath. She felt like laughing, really. She'd actually thought for a second there that Alice was her-

Her dark eyes widened, dropping her cane to grab her chest as a scream replaced the growl in her throat. The humming charge in her chest popped, like an elastic band snapping, and Bella felt like a force had reached into her chest, grabbed her heart, and was trying to pull it out. She stumbled forward, into Alice's arms as the vampire called her name in alarm. Bella squeezed her eyes shut, crying out in pain as her body burned, lucky because those eyes flashed, irises pale like the colour of the moon. Her knees gave out and the two slowly dropped down to the floor, Alice trying to gather the girl in her arms without hurting her. Bella buried her face in Alice's shoulder.

The two stayed there for what felt like forever, Alice calling Bella's name again and again. She lightly shook Bella as the girl settled, trying to get her attention. What just happened?! "Bella! Please look at me! What's wrong?"

Finally the brunette took a deep, shuddering breath, lifting her head to look up at Alice. The pixie gasped, gazing into the dark eyes that looked almost black with…with _hunger_. She felt Bella's hold on her tighten, her golden eyes fluttering at the exotic blend of fragrances that Bella had suddenly becoming stronger, more potent, mixed with something spicy. Intoxicating. Delicious.

She licked her lips.

**.**

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**Author's Note: **_Another long wait for you guys, I apologize! Miss Paige is quite the busy lady, and I'm afraid most, if not all, updates from here out will be a little wait like these last two have been. Worth it though, don't you think? Miss Paige never ceases to amaze! What a cliff hanger we've left you! They've finally touched! I wonder what will happen now? And what about Edward and Rose? They're quick to catch on, aren't they? And I don't know about you guys, but I'm quite the fan of Miss Paige's character Eve, she's quickly turning into one of my favourites. _

_Review please!_

_~Velvet. _


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